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Brand being closed...

4702 Views 10 Replies 10 Participants Last post by  Patrick.S
Not sure the fate of our cars at this point.....

Toyota Gives Scion Brand the Axe
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Not sure the fate of our cars at this point.....

Toyota Gives Scion Brand the Axe
Scion vehicles warranties will continue to be supported since, except for the badging, they are mechanically Toyotas.
Well guess thats why no TRD items showed.
Prolly also why we didn't see the C-HR at the Detroit Auto Show.
I was a bit surprised because they were finally getting new product. But it does make sense since a "youth " brand isn't as needed as it was 11 years ago.


The good news is if the 2017 rebadged iM is sufficiently different, the current iM will become collectable over time because of it's rarity.


http://www.autonews.com/article/201...rand-keep-the-cars?cciid=email-autonews-blast
I'm not surprised because the marketing strategy completely stopped making any bit of sense (not that it was making much to begin with) with the portfolio renewal.

The iM's a Corolla hatch to everyone and would do better without the Scion halo around it, the FR-S isn't sold as a Scion anywhere else and being rebranded GT-86 won't do it any harm. The iA is already a Yaris in Canada. Nothing about keeping the brand with this little differentiation made any sense. The only exclusive product Scion has is the tC (okay, not since 2011 it seems), which, honestly, would probably do as good as a Celica because it caters to the same customer base anyway. I think it's going to go away throughout the world because it was selling pretty poorly.

Toyota tried to respond to the problem of its customer base getting older with a new brand while all they really needed was adequate product to meet their needs. There was never a need for this brand to exist. The execs were sold on marketing idiocy.

Even GM's last strategy for Saturn made more sense because they were using it as a way to sell the European portfolio in North America. Unfortunately, the marketing and normalization expenses proved too high at the time.

I don't know what was going through their minds, but I'm glad they're addressing the situation... albeit, a year or two late.

RIP in pepperoni, I'm on my third dead brand. I hope this will improve the ownership experience for us.
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Well, we have this to look forward to. It should bring easier access to such things as fog lights, heated leather seats, push button start, clear tail lights, factory LED headlights. Tons of things we didn't get on our cars that are standard or add-ons for the rest of the world. We got the most standard equipment at the lowest price. The rest of the world still gets the ability to add the stuff we're missing if they want. They even get the 2zr-fe engine in Australia which has tons more aftermarket upgrades available. Kinda mad about that right now, lol.


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I think the biggest loss is "no haggle" pricing. You may have more options to choose but you will be paying more for the car to begin with.

That was the original charm for me about my '04 xB......a lot of features I wouldn't pay extra for, but was happy to have them for the low price of the car.

I actually think the prices allowed for little profit because Toyota was desperate to get a younger demographic. I do know every other car I looked at was priced higher with the same features.
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Basically these means we should see TRD goodies much sooner :D
I liked not having options to deal with and not worrying about the ritual of price negotiation. I just want a car for a fair price that does what it is supposed to. Good to have access to extra add ons I suppose, but I'm not sure what i would really want to add.
Well that's a small issue, some people like having the freedom to choose what they do and don't want for better pricing. Scion was fair, its just that you're paying for a fully loaded vehicle (or just about)
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