I thought xB2 sales would've been stronger than that, honestly. It was up against an extremely popular tC.

Every model gets refreshed every three to five years, so the tC drop off isn't unexpected, especially given how Toyota has made is known that they'll be changing models every three years. What was unexpected is how well it matched against a completely new vehicle in the lineup. I mean, the tC is pretty much the same exact vehicle as it was in 2005.

You could look at it a couple ways. Toyota declined, as did most companies, so you can chalk it up to that (but Honda did grow). The xB2 caters to a completely different market than the xB1 (same xA/xD) so it'll take a year more to get some footing in the market. Or the xB2 and the xD were misses and they need to go back to the drawing board.

Maybe Don is right - maybe the Hako is the answer, as long as it doesn't deviate too much from what we saw. Maybe it's the midground between the smart car and the Yaris. Perhaps the introduce the iQ as the new xA, and perhaps that shores up the ranks.

 

Here is the quote from the article that says it all for me:

"The xB is for people who don’t care what anybody thinks, which means fauxhawk-wearing 21-year-olds or grumpy retirees. "

I am not quite retired--but I guess the grumpy fits sometimes


Those of my generation are/were notorious for not caring what anyone thinks/thought. Long live the xB1..............

 

don't think this guy spent 20 minutes driving the car then he spent 4 hours thinking up smart things to say. Didn't mention the seq shift in the auto xB at all, tells the reader to skip it and buy the auto, yet sells show the auto out selling the manual 5 to 1.

 

FWD sucks