Hmmm... not our most promising Presidential candidate huh?
J.K.

It's not "required reading" and there won't be a quiz, so just skip this thread if you find it too annoying.



Thanks for this nest . Where are they selling this? (I'm guessing Europe based on the photos?)


Exactly what I am saying! If so many of us "outside the agegroup" buyers where buying the Toyota underneath... what is anyone getting so defensive about it saying Toyota on the outside?



Read the quote over again and stop for a second to hear what we are saying: Kids will not buy an "Old Man's" car but we will buy a "Kid's Car" because?... we are so much more mature? and don't care what people think? We are so much smarter than the young and can see through the marketing? That seems to be a consistent point throughout the thread. I think maybe a previous poster's comment might make sense here; "Old" doesn't mind being "young" but who actually wants to be "old"? Maybe if that is true it might explain some of the emotion in some of these posts.

I just don't think you can preach the necessity of specialized brand marketing for the xB without acknowledging that this vehicle has a commercialized public image as a...
how was it put... "Gen-Y Anime cartoon " car. (Actually, I like that description! I think it is right on the nose :D ) If you can recognize that as a Toyota-branded xB, that despite everything else, it simply would not have been a kewl Gen Y-mobile... then you are admitting that a couple of silly badges DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE. I happen to agree with that point of view. I think without the Scion nameplates and marketing scheme, the xB would have been just another (albeit for the present unusually-shaped) great little practical economy car. The shape was designed for the most practical use of space and not to be "cool" or radical as the xB was originally designed for the middle-aged Japanese urban commuter not young American Gen Y car mod street-racers.

If all it took was new badges and a marketed image to sell a car that would have been of no interest to younger buyers, then it is the badges and the marketing that made the xB a youthmobile. It then has to follow that removing the trademarks of that image (Scion) leaves just the car which was supposedly too uncool to market as a Toyota. If we older buyers were buying it for the Toyota underneath, we would not have been deterred by the lack of the Scion marketing/badging; Toyota would have been okay with us. If we were so unabashedly secure that the "youth image" of the Scion nameplates on the xB didn't stop us buying one, doesn't it follow by the same logic that we also would have been just as "secure" buying an uncool Toyota?

Think about it.

Otherwise I see your point about Toyota wanting to sell older, more financially-established buyers a more expensive car; good point.

However, you would be in error to refer to xB buyers over 35 years of age as a "handful of people that fall outside the norm". Sales statistic say otherwise; we are the majority buyers, not some minority handful.


True on both counts!

Of course, the VIN tag and the engine already have Toyota rather than Scion on them and the dealer and eBay made short work of the other "missing" Toyota badges. :D

 

Only thing I don't understand is the Torneo emblem.
(course I didn't read all that crap, I started to get a headache, so I may have missed it)

I personally dont care what you do it, its yours, enjoy it!

 

Seems like with the interest this thread is generating, I think it might be nice to have our age as an option to enter in our profiles. That way along with our different avatars and locations, we could display our ages ??

BTW...a car that not only appeals to the younger generation, but to the older generation as well ? Each one of us might think that we are smart for deciding to buy a xB, but guess who the really smart one is ?? You guessed it.........Toyota.

 

some FYI..37 yrs old as stated earlier.....I was looking at the RX330..but instead opted for the value and uniqueness of the XB........and I have 3 other cars which car do you think I drive ALL the time

 

id say 80% of the people with xb's around here are in there late 40's or higher. i think thats cool. everyone else wants the tc, i even thought about tradin mine for one, then an old man with a hot ___ hot lava said "the xb is just so much cooler dude." so i changed my mind
oh and brittany spears mom has an xb

 

Only if we can have two:

Age (chronological)
Age (actual)



George

 

How about a poll ? Like the one "What color did you get". That way we could make it a sticky and get a good cross section and still remain anonymous.

 

I'm 54 years old and have two grandchildren. I have 76 miles on my new xB, silver Scion.

I live in a nice neighborhood of San Diego and no body cares at all about what I drive if it isn't a 550 SL. I make calls on some of the most wealthy people in San Diego and I'll be happy to drive up Mt. Solodad in my Scion.

It just seems to me that you went to a lot of work to kiss the butt of people who you should ignore. There is more cachet to a Scion than to any Toyota ever built.

I replaced my 93 Previa Van with my Scion. We also own a 2004 RAV 4, a 2002 Avalon, a 2001 Corolla and a 99 Camry.

My Scion is the best of the bunch.

 

Yes, silly little badges do make a difference. . . why do you think the 95-97 Toyota Corolla absolutely devastated the Geo Prism in sales, despite the Geo being better priced with incentives, and being the SAME EXACT CAR, built out of the Toyota/GM coop plant in Fremont. There was a model update from 98-01 models, and Chevy axed the Geo brand (due to a negative image), and the Prism sales went up more than proportionally to the Corolla sales. Brands, images, and badges are important. . . again very very basic business concepts. Scion was designed to be an exclusive brand. . . and preserving that image is important. . . not to mention that redundant models cost money (inventory, allocation, production, sales, marketing). And there is the Echo, which is nearly the same car, that has a little less headroom and cargo space, but is the same thing as the xB.

 

nowellwisch



Joined: 03 Dec 2004
Posts: 1
Location: san diego
Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2004 7:43 pm Post subject: Rebadging

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm 54 years old and have two grandchildren. I have 76 miles on my new xB, silver Scion.

I live in a nice neighborhood of San Diego and no body cares at all about what I drive if it isn't a 550 SL. I make calls on some of the most wealthy people in San Diego and I'll be happy to drive up Mt. Solodad in my Scion.

It just seems to me that you went to a lot of work to kiss the butt of people who you should ignore. There is more cachet to a Scion than to any Toyota ever built.

I replaced my 93 Previa Van with my Scion. We also own a 2004 RAV 4, a 2002 Avalon, a 2001 Corolla and a 99 Camry.

My Scion is the best of the bunch.



Welcome...Enjoy......And I bet most of the people on this site aren't that far from your age group

 

nowellwisch



Joined: 03 Dec 2004
Posts: 1
Location: san diego
Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2004 7:43 pm Post subject: Rebadging

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm 54 years old and have two grandchildren. I have 76 miles on my new xB, silver Scion.

I live in a nice neighborhood of San Diego and no body cares at all about what I drive if it isn't a 550 SL. I make calls on some of the most wealthy people in San Diego and I'll be happy to drive up Mt. Solodad in my Scion.

It just seems to me that you went to a lot of work to kiss the butt of people who you should ignore. There is more cachet to a Scion than to any Toyota ever built.

I replaced my 93 Previa Van with my Scion. We also own a 2004 RAV 4, a 2002 Avalon, a 2001 Corolla and a 99 Camry.

My Scion is the best of the bunch.



Welcome...Enjoy......And I bet most of the people on this site aren't that far from your age group

 

nowellwisch



Joined: 03 Dec 2004
Posts: 1
Location: san diego
Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2004 7:43 pm Post subject: Rebadging

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm 54 years old and have two grandchildren. I have 76 miles on my new xB, silver Scion.

I live in a nice neighborhood of San Diego and no body cares at all about what I drive if it isn't a 550 SL. I make calls on some of the most wealthy people in San Diego and I'll be happy to drive up Mt. Solodad in my Scion.

It just seems to me that you went to a lot of work to kiss the butt of people who you should ignore. There is more cachet to a Scion than to any Toyota ever built.

I replaced my 93 Previa Van with my Scion. We also own a 2004 RAV 4, a 2002 Avalon, a 2001 Corolla and a 99 Camry.

My Scion is the best of the bunch.



Welcome...Enjoy......And I bet most of the people on this site aren't that far from your age group.

 

If you don't mind me asking WHAT THE HELL IS A TOYOTA TORNEO????!!!!!! The Toyota work emblem isn't in the right place look at a corolla or echo and see how the emblems are placed. THe xB is not an suv .

 

The Torneo is a HONDA!

 

Mind if I say that is ugly!!!

 

That is sort of like putting an Element and Honda Emblem on an xB anybody got a pic of that wonder how it looks.

 

ok just had a thought

this would almost be like the GM thing posted earlier in this thread. the Aztec (ugliest thing in the world) shares the same stuff with the Buick Rendezouis (cant spell) it just wouldnt work out. how can you maks a xB be different for the Toyota side of things. my car is already registered in NY as a toyota so it becomes confusing already. what is your car regestered as. i tell everyonre its a toyota scion xB thats so i dont have to explain about toyota this and scion that and Lexus this. and since sales showed that Toyota customers arent as youns as the honda/acura croud or anything like that.

in my opinion i dont think there should be a lexus or an infiniti or a Acura brands. its just too confusing for everyone.

it druives me cracy when people buy the lexus LX430 (i think thats what it is) compared to the Toyota Land Cruiser. i mean paying 7000 more for a logo is just stupid. i'd betcha if they parked next to a Land Cruiser they would be ____ed with toyota.

i know i would. same with the camry and the lexus ES330. wwhy would you pay 32000 for a toyota camry with HID's and leather.

i like my xB/bB and i plan to JDM it

 

Sorry, I just had to say this.

Pop the hood on a Cadillac CTS-V, pure Chevy under the hood.

I also bought my xB for its looks and to market with it. I average over 100 web hits a day now.

 

The Yaris/Echo Verso is sold in Europe, Japan and Southeast Asian countries. It weighs very close to the same as an xB and the lengthened Echo/Yaris platform it uses is what the xB is built upon. They are very similar aside from the Verso's more aerodynamic shape and less aggressive gearing and suspension tuning.

Well...then it sounds like we agree? (I think)



Well I don't think it's the Scion nameplate alone that sells the cars. Toyota's image is simply too conservative (especially in this country) for them to ever introduce the Toyota Bb as a Toyota Bb. It's the unfamiliarity of the design AND the Scion nameplate that helps establish the Scion brand as a seperate entity in the mind of the consumer IMO. Boxy city cars like this are commonplace in Japan and Europe and don't get a second look, but here it's unusual. Most small American families that would be served well by an xB would never even consider it and move right past it to the 5000+ lb SUV land barge class vehicles as second nature. Toyota knows this so they don't even bother to sell it to the same audience they would in any other country (any of which has drivers that make more practical decisions than most Americans...)

 

It, um, still is a funny looking little economy car made by toyota. All your bloviating about how older people are so much smarter and can see through the marketing is bull____. Generation Y is the most shamelessly marketed-to generation in history, we're a lot more media literate than you give us credit for.

When it comes down to it, the xB is the ideal car for teenagers for the same reasons it's a good one for older people. It's a toyota, which means there won't be many repair/upkeep costs. It's fuel-efficent, which means I can drive without breaking the bank or sending a ton of money to Saudi Arabia. It's got a great interior and awesome leg room. The motor isn't huge, but that's a good way to get parents on board for the purchase. The stereo has pretty much everything you could want from a car stereo. Oh yeah, and did I mention it looks cool?