Toyota launched its Scion “youth brand” in 2003 to create a hipper image and attract younger buyers, but now, 13 years later, Scion’s story is at an end. Scion has allowed us to fast track ideas that would have been challenging to test through the Toyota network. And Toyota’s C-HR compact crossover concept was headed for Scion showrooms, which would have given the brand its first-ever SUV. Toyota released a press release this morning confirming the news and announcing that most Scion models would be consolidated into the bigger, and more successful brand.
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“I was there when we established Scion and our goal was to make Toyota stronger by learning how to better attract and engage young customers”, Lentz said.
With the addition of the FR-S, iA, iM, and C-HR to the Toyota lineup, the Japanese automaker will have a whopping 24 models available for purchase in the US. The company said it will discontinue the tC sports coupe in August. Furthermore, the 1,004 dealerships that sell Scions will continue to provide service to Scion owners.
Last year, the company sold just 56,167 cars.
That niche may not even exist now, Toyota officials said. It’s unclear if the Scion models will simply be killed off or if they will transition to Toyota models. He said while Gen Xers wouldn’t touch the same brand their parents and grandparents liked, Millennials see Toyota more favorably than they did Scion.
“I think when you have to unwind a brand and tell dealers it’s over, I don’t know how on some level you can’t say that’s a failure”, Brauer told Automotive News.
The tC sports coupe, which is set to have a new release in August, will go down with the Scion ship. The sudden news today closes the chapter on Scion, whose boxy xB hatchback would become its defining auto. Lentz was the founding vice president of the Scion brand.
Scion’s staff of 22, representing sales, marketing, distribution, strategy, product, and accessories will have new roles at Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. Scion, which is only sold in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico, has no stand-alone dealerships.
I’m not sure why Toyota needed to launch a brand to acquire that information.
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Scion sales peaked at 173,034 units in 2006 before plummeting to a recession-induced low of 45,678 in 2010.
