DO NOT make the mistake of pricing the xD base above 14K. It will hurt sales to the young people that you want to purchase the car. Your goal of selling Scions today to people who later buy a Toyota will not be reached. After destination charge and the dealer's markup, disguised as a doc fee, the car will be much more than what the others competing models will sell for next year. Think about it. Unless you want to have a bunch of AARP folks buying it, make it affordable ! Lose a little now, make a lot later.

 

BTW, at 34 you're pretty much outside the target demographic yourself.

 

does being outside the demographic invalidate his opinion?

 

I'm under 35 which puts me on the far side of inside.

BTW you were never at any point in it Forty Deuce.

 

i too am outside the demographic, but he has a valid point. i bought my first box for 15,600, and my first xa for 13,600. very affordable. the new boxes that have come thru our dealership have all been over 18K. granted that the newer boxes have more engine, more safety refinements as well as the improvements for the xd, i would be a little more pressed to seek out alternatives. i love my scions and will prolly never get rid of them but any future purchase of them will have price in the picture.

 

My point exactly. It does not matter how great a deal they are offering for what you get. The bottom line is the bottom line for most really young buyers. When I was 21 I could not afford a car that cost 15k and not a chance of swinging a 18k car. I'm thrity four and now I can afford a 07 loaded 3 series beamer but I have no interest in throwing money away on a depreciating asset . I like my money in the market working for me. And the really young folks that scion claims to want are being priced right out of the market by the company that claims to want them. Its bipolar to say the least. Don't price the car above 14k. The xB is already out of the park. Don't make the same mistake on the little D. Give the young guys and gals a chance.

 

Some of you guys are pathetic. You say you want more power and more standard features but yet don't want to pay for it. If you can't afford what you're asking for in the xD, buy a xA.

 

We are talking about buying the xD. What the hell do you think we are talking about.
Read the posts before you make a stupid comments jagoff.

 

K, let's argue and tear each other apart nicely, please.

I'd rather have the xA over the xD, myself. Simple cars = better cars.

 

:yawn Who's "you"? I never asked for anything. I was happy the way things were. I don't need more power, I have to many tickets as is.

This site is great for shareing info with each other on the cars. But some people just want to throw off on everybody, which is causing me to visit less and less.....

 

Yeah, this site has a purpose, users, and that isn't it. A lot of us here are trying to run a good, clean ship here. Don't ruin it for the rest of us, please.

 

Wasn't meant as an attempt to invalidate his opinion....sorry.
Just interesting how, in their attempt to target one demographic with inexpensive, optioned vehicles, Toyota ends up selling them to a much broader market.....myself included. It happened originally with the Matrix in '02/'03. Targeting the youth market, and getting a much older demographic. I don't think Toyota wants to admit that an older demographic doesn't necessarily want to buy a Camry or Avalon because that's what the marketing is aimed at. Personally, if Toyota offered the European optioned Yaris TS here, I'd be all over it even it did approach $18-20k. Small cars aren't just for the young because someone told us they were.

 

look, toyota has to price the xd at a point where it can make some profit. it is actually illegal for a company to sell something at a price that doesn't make a profit.

two, the demographic is the younger drivers, but lets face it, most buyers of new scions are their parents.

 

i tihnk a that if a large number of buyers(not majority) is outside demographic, its can show the true "value" of a car

the first few scions-05,06,07 all were values-new styles, not often noticed, and blatantly different-this provides a open market for anyone wanting to be different, which really includes any age range

its cool-just originally came off as offensive, hence my comment

 

Let's take a Yaris 3-door and option it out as close to the xD as possible.

A loaded slushbox (because I can't drive stick) Yaris 3-door comes out to $15,770. The xD has more features than a loaded Yaris (larger engine with similar fuel economy, an extra pair of doors, better sound system, cruise control, etc. etc. etc.). For you to demand that it be priced under $14k is immensely unreasonable. Edmund's' $15,080 estimate, as thus, is pretty damn reasonable.

Honestly, I think $14,990 would be a better price. At least they could CLAIM it's under $15k. XD

 

I thought the same way for a while, too. But them I thought "Hey, things might change." after I saw how the next-gen xB was priced. The equipment is comparable to Toyota's Rav4, but look at the price difference between the two:

The new xB is $4.7K LESS than the new Rav 4.

So, that just makes me think that they're able to make some changes and lower the price, somehow. I know it's not a %100 flawless theory, but there has to be something they can do about it.

 

Toyota always makes a profit. Sometimes more on some models than others. But pricing needs to be low for them to sell to the market they intened to sell they car to. They were selling to sell again on the 1st gen models. So far they appear to be moving away from that thus far on the 2nd gen. If they want to just sell cars to anyone then I think they are heading in the right direction. But the xD needs to be affordable for the young buyers. 14k is as high as they should go on the base price of the car alone w/out destination or dealer markup (doc fee). We will see. I'm sorry if my prior commets were out of line. I had a tough day at work.

 

I think all new Scions should come with a case of Chips A'Hoy.

 

I think that it is somewhat wrong to say that Scion Markets to young buyers. To me it seems like all their efforts are focused more on people who want to express their individualism. Now I understand that younger buyer, more often than not, fall into this personalization campaign, but there are many older buyers that also fall into it. And they are more willing to pay a little more to get a lot more in features.

I also have to agree with the earlier comment that for the younger kids, it is mostly parents buying the cars and not the kids themselves.
.02

 

Actually, the entire reason for the brand's existence is to bring in younger buyers. Toyota noticed that they had a ton of loyal customers, but the vast majority of them were over the age of 30, so they created a "youth-oriented brand" to lure us in younger. The customizeable-car model was introduced to appeal to us Generation Y people, who demand to personalize everything from computers to cheeseburgers.

The idea is that a 21-year-old Scion buyer today is a 31-year-old Camry buyer tomorrow, and a Highlander five years after that, etc etc.

For awhile, at least, it worked. Personally, I was a GM person, but I bought my first Scion at 24. It's reliable, it was dirt-cheap, and the looks are INSANE. A lot of incredibly old people bought them (60+), but most of us are young people who would otherwise have bought Civics or Aveos.

Unfortunately, the xB2 represents a GIGANTIC failure of this entire measure (stroll on over to their board for confirmation). In listening to bitter old people complain about the original xB's wimpy engine and insane shape, Scion created a BoomerMobile. Now the vast majority of people who drive one are in their 40's and 50's, or, as I call it, The Death Of Cool.

Hopefully the xD can pull the Scion brand out of their skyrocketing age demographic.

If not...IT'S UP TO YOU, tC PEOPLE. D:

$0.02