rnaz1017

Scion is the New Saturn - Motor Trend

Strangely accurate. I really feel the downfall of mass appeal of Scion is a lackluster compact hatch and subcompact hatch. The first generation xA and xB were welcome alternatives to other cars in their segment, there were barley any to begin with and none of them had the same level of features as the Scions.

Times..have changed there are so many great cars in both those segments the current xD and xB don't even compete. The xB is actually a pretty good car for the money, space features etc. just that its so ugly from the front end that its sales will continue to falter...the old xB was simple but quirky and appealed to the masses. The xD despite looking the part, can't match the features utility, MPG or style of other cars in the segment like the Honda Fit.

The tC and FR-S are unique and pretty niche vehicles with limited true competitors in their price point that directly compete(tC? Kia Forte Koup..despite its HP disadvantage and smaller size and no hatch, VW GTI would be but $5k price gap so Nope) (FR-S in reality the only other small rear drive built from the ground up purpose built sports coupe like the FRS is the Mazda Miata which is a roadster).

...they need the high sales volume of bread and butter cars like the xD and xB to bring more money into the brand to make tC's and FR-S more niche and nicer versions of all their vehicles. A turbo FR-S? Roadster?, tC with remapped engine tuning etc to make more power than the standard camry HP level? Not happening without A) More revenue in the brand to invest B)Higher Volume of sales to offset cost of premium features or C)Risk raising price point of the car to get these features.. hoping for higher sales.

No real point to this post...just some thoughts after reading that article and wanted to rant. In any case, I still love my tC2, there isn't another car out there that I could of gotten for the money that has all the features, style, performance, reliability, practically I have in my tC.

Xversa

Scion becomes the new Saturn, next stop "the history book".
It's too bad because I love my tC2, and all my neighbors think it's hot. And they're all surprised to know it's made by Toyota.
Why is there so little advertising money spent on the brand? How can you sell anything, that no one knows about?
BTW I'm over 65, and not in the target demographic.

rnaz1017

Good point, a lot of people don't even know it's made by Toyota, that alone would sell a ton more cars. I still remember when the FRS came out, the salesman said if that was a Toyota Celica it would sell like hotcakes but since no one knows it's a toyota its not as hot a seller at a Celica. I feel like once this new euro toyota based Hatch comes over, maybe it'll have nice styling and drive train to put a kick in the marketing.