Keep in mind one other thing that was supremely important to the establishment of the Scion brand by Toyota, and it's attempt to attract younger buyers to cars in the Toyota family. (This, in fact, is the primary reason for the existence of the entire Scion marque.)

The problem was that Toyota saw that most of their current customers were older customers, and realized that they had very little to attract the younger buyer or first-time buyer. The company needs a large pool of young buyers who have a good experience with their cars to help ensure a continuing supply of buyers who will look at Toyota first as they grow older...

In order to create that pool of young buyers they created Scion with the idea of having value priced, entry level, very accessible, easily personalized cars that would hopefully attract and thrill young buyers. They even severely limited what dealers could get away with charging for the cars to keep the price down.

When they came out with the first two Scions, the xA and xB, the collective wisdom of the sales gurus was that the xA would be a good seller as it was a fairly sophisticated sub-compact at a killer price. The xB was tossed in because it was mostly the same running gear, was inexpensive, and more or less filled out the line so Scion wasn't just one car.

Surprise! The xB caught on. It was weird, it was in-your-face, it was anti-establishment, it was, in short, a car that young people's parents could hate almost as much as their music.

It drove right through the double doors, lights flashing, music blaring, wheels out to here just daring the adults to say something.

Young people bought 'em, they made 'em look even more in-your-face and obnoxious to the establishment. Advertising was underground, word of mouth, wild parties, get togethers like Scion Exposed, strange commercials on Adult Swim. It was an underground car that the respectable adults hated the looks of. It was perfect. It became the iconic Scion. THE car people would think of when they thought Scion.

Toyota had their pool of young buyers started.

The long term plan was to constantly renew the Scion line-up with new odball cars that would resonate with the younger folks they wanted to attract, and when those young buyers got a bit older, and no longer wanted a cheap in-your-face car, they could move directly from their Scion to one of the Toyotas on the other side of the showroom, something more suitable for an adult with a family and a more respected place in the community.

Eventually, as that pool of young Scion buyers got older, more successful, and even more respected and conscious of image, they would graduate to the Lexus cars and the cycle would be complete. Scion > Toyota > Lexus ...

Then they lost site of both their short term and long term goals and came out with the second gen xB.

It was no longer the little in-your-face, odd looking, finger high in the air Scion Urban Utility Vehicle the original xB was, but instead it was a larger, more conservative, more refined, freeway cruiser. Instead of following through and bringing in the new bB as the replacement for our odd little xB, they brought in a Corolla Rumion station wagon - a fine car, but NOT in-your-face.

The xB2 should have been put into the Toyota lineup as the step-up vehicle for those who needed to move to a larger, smoother, less aggressively funky vehicle, and the slot in the Scion lineup reserved for the next version of that weird little Tokyo City Car, the bB.

As it stands right now, the long term plan that created Scion in the first place has been broken.

Those looking for a replacement for their xB Classics will not find it ANYWHERE in the Scion, Toyota, Lexus family.

Remember, the idea was to have a constant flow of entry-level crazy to attract the young crowd, and a clear and obvious vehicle in the Toyota line for them to step into when they tired of the Scion.

Currently there IS no vehicle in the entire family that is imported to the United states that is a UUV.

Toyota dropped the ball, and the people with the vision at Scion have moved on and are no longer attuned to what in heck they are supposed to be doing.

Anyway, the iQ is a great second car, the inner city commuter, the grocery getter. It is NOT suitable as an "only car" and therefore not really suitable as a Scion. It should be a Toyota.

The tC is getting a bit long in the tooth, a good car, but there are a lot of good cars.

The FR-S is a great little sporty car, and fits right into the fun in-your-face style.

There are, however, no little inexpensive utility cars left - unless one likes hamsters.

 

It's interesting why Toyota decided to try to establish the Scion brand as the stepping stone to their brand. In the Japanese market they sell everything under one name be it the lower priced economy models or luxury.

 

Thomas description sounds like some marketing major's thesis. Real life is not nearly that tidy. (though I'm sure he's just quoting their business plan.)

I would say half the people I see driving a gen 1 xB have white hair. I bought mine at age 36.

Here's a news flash for scion: The cars that young people buy are 18-year-old crappy, rusted buckets. Unless you have those for $900, forget it.

When I was 22 or younger I would never in a million years thought of buying a "new" car. I don't care how cheap it was, it would still be too much. In fact I don't think I knew of one person when I was in high school who had a brand new car. It just goes to show how times have changed with easy credit and a sense of entitlement with some young consumers, or rich parents.

I don't get this stepping stone brand thing. For Example: The reason a young person likes a Honda and goes in to buy a new one in his mid to late 20's is because he loved his crappy beater civic when he was 18. That's is how you get future consumers….make sure your existing cars age well.

 

You are right, Typhoon - I'm reciting what the Scion folks said when they introduced the brand and their plans for it. To lift and modify an old quote about war, even the best of marketing plans do not survive first contact with the market...

When I was 22, a sergeant in the USAF, I traded in my old car on my first brand new, ordered-from-the-factory car, a fully loaded Plymouth Barracuda...



(...then spent the next year in 'Nam.)

I see a LOT of brand new cars on the large joint base I live next to, mostly driven by young people...

 

Your assessment is to your backyard only, definitely does not blanket the real marketplace.

I purchased my first NEW car at 19 years old. it was a Pontiac Trans Am HO.

Bought my first car at 16, which was a used 1970 Ford Mustang. Added a 1967 Shelby GT 500 when I was 17.

All with my own hard earned cash.

I do not have gray hair, nor am I old.

So, depending on where you are in this great nation, there are teens either buying their own new cars or in most cases, Mommy or Daddy getting it for them.

And plenty of 45+ might drive a xB, but they are not the target. Car companies for decades have used step up.

GM, Chevy to Cadillac
Ford, Ford to Lincoln
Chrysler, Dodge to Chrysler

The difference in recent decades is brand loyalty no longer exists.

So a $14K xB1 was well within reach to a late teen. Mommy/ Daddy doesn't have to worry about upkeep. Kid makes a few bucks at the local burger joint. Saves it up to buy "mods." And that involvement with the vehicle will make him or her feel like they know this brand and when they grow up, they might by default buy a Toyota depending on their life placement.

 

Thank you for your service!