I seldom see an ad on TV about the Scion. It's always another Toyota model. Now they are on that other one even smaller than the Xa.
I have a 2006 Xa and love it, but wonder about it's future.
What's the future of the Scion?

 

You will never see a Scion ad on CSI: Miami or anyother primetime show. I doubt you can even see a Scion ad w/o cable even. It doesn't fit into their marketing scheme because it is too mainstream. You won't even see another Scion ad on Sportscenter.

If you want to see some Scion ads, watch "The Daily Show" w/ Jon Stewart, South Park, and/or anything on Spike TV.

There is nothing to worry about, all is normal here. Scions aren't going anywhere anytime soon except into driveways ;)

 

Ok thanks for the comeback, but as nice as this car is, I can't figure why they aren't pushing it more.
I see Yaris ads all the time.
The local Toyota dealer does not have Scion franchise so I had to go out of town to buy mine.
The franchise thing is another puzzler. Why not let the Toyota dealer sell them w/o jumping thru hoops.

 

...in the beginning ; a dealer had to be within a certain distance of an interstate . ( for transportation reasons )
...allocation was based on toyota sales .
...with an outlay of $150K + , dealers that would recieve 3-5 units a month couldn't justify the cost .
...others didn't grasp the vision . ( many still don't )
..."pure price " works when demand exceeds supply .
... i want more models , not more of the existing product .
... scion needs 5-6 different vehicles .
... 2 seater against miata , sky & solice .
... small pickup : Xcab , power equipt. , ssp audio .

 

They aren't pushing it because that is not the Scion way. No offense, but you aren't the target market, but you got caught up in the wake because of it's tremendous value.

The whole reason for Scion being in the first place is to attract younger buyers that never would have bought a Toyota in the first place. Toyota stepped back and noticed the average age of it's buyers was increasing. Upon further review, they learned that younger buyers did not consider Toyotas "cool". They instead chose to drive Honda's and Mazda's. Fearing an affliction known as "Oldsmobilism"; a severe condition in the car industry whose most common symptom is that all of your customers are dead, dying, or soon to be on the list and whose end result is that company will begin to resemble their customer base; they decided to start early to prevent this severe disease.

The first attempt was to bring the Matrix to market. A commercial success, but really did nothing to limit the impending onset. Much like an individual today might eliminate fatty red-meats in the hopes of preventing a future heart attack, it was really just a good first step.

When Toyota went back to the drawing board, they decided they had to go Jack Lelane in order to reverse the trend and create a more permanent solution. This became the Scion brand.

Everything Scion does is about remaining fresh, relevant, and edgy. If it's mainstream, then it isn't right for Scion. They don't want to produce more than 160k units unless demand forces them to. As opposed to producing 360k units, and then attempting to force the buyers to buy, they want the buyers to force them to make more.

The end result is not sell a mess load of Scions, but to graduate Scion buyers to the Toyota namesake.

 

Scion deffinately has a future, the xA however does not in my opinion. Apparently Scion missed the mark with our beloved xA and most of the current owners are above 40. The xA is now reffered to as the Scion bastard child because there are not many owner enthusiasts willing to modify their car much less participate in anything related to Scion. The future of Scion looks bright, I'm kicking myself that I did not buy 20 of the 03-05 models as a sort of profit scheme, because of their limited supply the resale is above the MSRP!!! Anyhow my 2 cents. The xB and tC are looking to be popular for some time, the xA's future looks shaky with the new models just around the bend....

 

Why would anyone pay over MSRP for a 2003 - 2005? You could just buy a brand new 2006 for MSRP. If anyone really is paying over MSRP for a 2003 - 2005 (short of something with alot of aftermarket options), they are just insane.

 

Before i got my xA new i looked at used ones in my area and they were asking MSRP with 30 k miles on them. There were only two used for sale in my area. That said to me they are holding thier value very well. I traded in my "02" montana and my insurance dropped $20 a month. And my MPG doubled. If they discountinue this model, I will have a collector's item. win, win, and maybe one more win =) I am a happy Scion owner.

kms2112

 

around here there mostly all stock

 

I think xA are quite popular in my city. Just today, I went around town and saw many scion xA. There were mom's driving it, older guys driving it, and what not. Well if there wont be many young audience driving the car, I'll be one of the few young people out there who will be driving it in the future.

 

im looking to buy an xa and the low intrest makes me happy, when i goto a scion show once i get mods theres more intresrt i guess, 15 tcs, 20 xbs and my 1 xa i like the exposeure lol

 

Its a kind of word of mouth advertising. The Scions stay on the lot for such a short time there is really no need to push them very hard. There was a post once on here about how the sales per advertising dollar for the Scion is very high.

 

I have seen 4 Scion's in the month that I have owned mine, all were xB's. The first was a dude up in his windshield waving at me, and the others were middle aged stuck up women. The girl at the bank has a tC, she is HOT. Other than that , I dont see any Scion's in Indianapolis. Is there a club here ?

 

There are quite a few Scion ads on MTV as well.

 

brilliant post. captured the marketing philosophy completely.

 

I asked my dealer that exact same question. His answer was that a Used Scion was easier to get ahold of than a New one since you don't have to wait on a waiting list for a used one. Typically dealerships only get one or two scions in and they are gone before they actually sit on the lot. My dealership has a waiting list for the xA twenty people long, the xB is around thirty.

So, to sum it up:
Used car - Get it as soon as you pay the $
New car - Wait on a waiting list like me, have a dealer that ignores you and can't seem to figure out why my car isn't on the "allocation list" but still informs me that the "timetable" of 4-6 weeks is still good because his "manager" says so.

Pain in the asses!