It’s Time: Scion Should Reincorporate with Toyota
Sometimes it’s hard for an automaker to split off part of its lineup to another branding. Look at SRT. Dodge broke off the group a few years back, and just this year, incorporated it back under the Dodge nameplate.
And now might be a good time for Toyota to do the same thing with Scion.
When Scion debuted a decade ago, it represented a quirky niche market that Toyota wanted—the youth market. Toyota was seen as beigemobiles, makers of sleep-inducing cars for old folks, vehicles seemingly constructed from compromise. Young people didn’t aspire to drive what their parents used to schlep them to school.
So Scion was born.
And initially it succeeded. But a decade later and sales are falling through the floor.
This month, the xD only sold 682 units, down from 800 last year. The xB only sold 1400, down barely from 1500. The iQ slashed in half to 170 units. And both the tC and FR-S also showed decreases. The FR-S’s performance was to be expected—with the no longer being new—but the tC is new. And it isn’t doing well. At all.
Over the last few years, with driving enthusiast and part-time race car driver Akio Toyoda at the helm, the company has slowly been shedding its older demographic feel, increasing its youth orientation and delivering exciting products. With a new Supra coming, now is the right time to reincorporate Scion into Toyota. The world’s largest automaker no longer hide its nameplate from young buyers.
Toyota needs to capitalize on the nest-gen of the Supra and the FR-S and pull the brand back.
It’s time.