X2

 

Dear Scion,

I believe the next xb should have ejection seats. Since short term dating relationships, casual sex, and one-nite stands are on the rise and prevalent among your youth target. Young people can "eject" their dates and never have to call them again.
Tagline: The Players Car


The new tc needs to have an oem machine gun with laser guided missiles so we can fight off aliens from our video games.
Tagline: The Gamers Car

The xa or xd or xe or whatever letter you decide to pick, should have no floors or engine. Yes, like the Flintstones. This car niches to fight our nations obesity rate and/or gas crisis.
Tagline: The Tree Huggers Cars

2¢

 

This is how I interpret Hollis words on Autoblog:

Hollis quote (abridge edition):
2-dr xB "Hako" = no
Truck? = "maybe"
Hybrid? = "no"
Subcompact roadster = "Hell yes"

 

From what I see--it looks like the Hako is starting to grow on some of the forum folks. It has some possibilities..............

 

my 3 cents
#1 bB2 (keep xb2) bB2 is sold with 1.8l as Diahatsu materia the 1.8 in corolla / xd
#2 ae86 rwd replace tc(use 2.4 l from matrix 2.4) (fwd engine CAN be used in rwd car car / trans matter not eng IE saturn sky uses
cobalt eng)
#3 4 dr mini truck poss share under parts of ae86 (stretch + would be better handling then hi-lux based) 2wd would do to begin
#4 small roadster from ae86 chasses (rwd saturn sky like)
the result is 2 basic engines 1.8 / 2.4 and 3 chassis
plus the engines are represented in other cheap / youth oriented cars (corolla / matrix / vibe etc) and the tuner community would get a lot of market share for some parts ie for 200 hp 2.4 turbo kit

 

^^^ YAY 120PS!

anyway, I wouldnt think as far as putting a flat 4 motor into ANY Toyota.... yeah, Subaru and Toyota are together but mainly so Toyota get learn from Subaru AWD and Subaru can learn from Toyota hybrid tech.

 

I'm going to fathom a guess that maybe the reason the xB2 and the xD and now this car aren't fairing very well with us Scion enthusiasts is that, well, we've seen them before.

The xB2 is a bigger xB1.
The xD is a bigger xA.
The Hako is an uglier xB.

It's almost like they've fallen into the American mindset that killed Ford and Chevy of "hey, people like these vehicles... if we make them bigger, they'll like them more!" and "hey, people like this vehicle... lets make different ones that are still the same!" Saturn fell into that when they started, too, and they completely lost sight of what they were doing in the first place.

You know what? We don't need another xB. We don't need a bigger xA. Give us different cars. I don't think anyone would disagree that the formula they had of "lets import Japanese cars" worked. The ist, the bB, and the Avensis... in their rebadged forms... were all hits over here and created a profitable company. Why would ever you do anything other than "import Japanese cars" after that? If it works, don't try and fix it! Don't try and design cars for us, because this entire site is all about people who took what you gave them and designed cars for themselves. Most of us all got our cars in the first place because they were small, cheap, and different; three things the xB2, the xD (to a degree), and the Hako are all violating.

Now, assuming that Scion's fanbase wants truly different cars, and not more of the same stuff, here's what I think Scion should import to bolster it's sales and regain it's image:


The Aygo. These would do so well in large cities. We really don't have a true city car here in America, and with gas getting up to $80,372 per gallon, and Yukon XL's and Escalade ESV's still clogging up the parking lots... well, I think a city car would do well over here. It's also, comparatively, about $13k.


The Porte. Never mind the color. If you've ever seen a Peugeot 1007, this is basically the same car... except better. Give us two sliding doors (instead of one sliding and one hinged, as it is now) on it, and I think this car could be a recipe for another "dare to be different" success. Unfortunately, it toes that $17k line.

Now, those two being said, the third suggestion I was going to make would have been a rear-wheel drive coupe. I want something that the tuning market make into a Z killer that doesn't cost nearly as much. I want something that's more than just "a rear-wheel drive car". I want something that's going to turn heads and cameras and bra straps. Toyota, you really want to be different?



Give us this. Give us guys that race on the track against Z's and S2000's and GTI's something makes everyone look at us like we're nuts. The tuner market in particular will love you forever, and so will I. You want brand retention? Give us the MR-S, and do it right, and you'll have loyal enthusiasts like you've never seen before.

(Sidenotes: I think an AWD "Subayota" would be a great alternative to the MR-S if you made it look like this and you can get it under $22k or so. And sweet baby Jesus, I really hate when someone posts that picture of the 120PS, because it's obnoxiously wide and messes up the whole page it's on.)

 

I like how people are trying to appeal to Toyota. But here's some perspective: this is the same company that killed off the Celica, Supra and MR-2.

Think about that for a minute. There is no 2000GT relative in their line-up, at all. It's like killing off the Corvette or the Mustang.

Now look at how many 'sport packages' there are for existing models. The Corolla. The Matrix. The Yaris. The Camry SE. The Scion tC.

I can't possibly know what Toyota is thinking (who can, after the Hako?)... but the trend is very unsettling.

 

I would buy the Porte in a hot second! Thats cooler than cool! It is too bad that Scion lost sight, I always tell people "i got the first and last of its kind" referring to my xB...

 

Well, get ready.

 

Don't do that! That's not fair!

 

Just a couple points, Dogbert.
There is no JDM version of the tC.
The xB2 is a Corolla Rumion in Japan,
and
the xD is the new iSt.
My point is Scion wasn't only importing Japanese vehicles, But they didn't stop either.

 

That thing looks like Toyota Engineers hacked into the design database owned by Acura.

 

fine by me

 

Okay, you're right, there's no JDM tC. Kind of punctures my arguement, but it's still an import of the Avensis, even if it isn't a Japanese import.

The t2B concept came out, and they made the xB2 after that. The Corolla Rumion is actually a USDM version of the xB2, not the other way around.

And while the xD is based on the 2nd gen ist, yeah, it's still a Toyota Yaris over here. The xD is just a rebadged USDM Yaris; it's more similar to the USDM Yaris than the JDM ist or Ractis. That's what seperates all the other models from the xD, and it's probably why the xD is doing so awful in sales: the other models weren't just USDM rebadges, whereas the xD is.


So no, I probably shouldn't have said they were just importing JDM vehicles, but they were still just importing vehicles regardless, and they were operating at a profitable rate. But then they went and changed the way they operated, and they stopped being profitable. I'm just basing my arguement on the logic that maybe if they went back to the way they operated before they released the xD and xB2 upon us, they would profit again.

That means not releasing the Hako (which I'm confused about, with their reasoning that they "went to Scion customers about what they wanted," when it sounds like they only polled people in Japan about the concept...), and either releasing a car in a class that we haven't seen over here yet (a city car like the Aygo or Porte), or bring back a car that Toyota's axed from their lineup that we also haven't seen over here (the MR-S, which is about as unique of a Scion as you could get: a cheap rear-wheel drive, mid-engine coupe).

 

The 1st gen Vitz is the Scion xA, the 2nd gen Vitz is the xD. The Toyota Belta is the USDM Yaris. They're all kind of sort of related, but the Vitz was designed in Europe and the Belta was developed in Japan.

As far as USDM goes, the xD is a 1.8L, the Yaris is a 1.5L. There aren't any Scions with the 1.5L anymore, so the Yaris is in the clear, but the xD offers the same exact engine as the Toyota Matrix. The two are nearly at the same price point.

I don't quite understand why this demographic is so muddled for Toyota. The Vitz and Belta offer pretty much all the same things, but different sheet metal styling (at least in Europe and Japan).

The USDM problem is the xD / Matrix - what the heck is going on?

 

Man, my homework was all wrong on the xD. You're exactly right, but obviously it's very muddled and confusing the way they're handling this market segment and how many fingers they've got in the pie. The xD isn't a rebadged Yaris; it's a rebadged Matrix. Same point, but wrong car.


Matrix.


xD.

You can not get an xA, xB1, or tC in USDM Toyota form. You can get an xD in USDM Toyota form.

 

If you want to get picky, both the 2009 Corolla and Matrix will have the 132 HP engine with the option of the 158 HP engine.

When the engine is good, stick with it.

 

it's the "iSt" not the vitz that was the xA and is the xD. but the Vitz and the iSt, as well as some other modles, have the same Nets front logo.
dogbert, i'll get to you tomorrow, my wife's laptop won't always let me quote people.

 

1st gen VITS (echo hb in canada / australia / yaris rest of world)

newer vits /yaris

first gen ist /xa

second ist /XD

rumion /second xb


the xbII and matrix are similar chassis / engines