It seems all the rumours proved real: Toyota drops Scion, after 13 years of existence. Back in 2003, Scion had been established as Toyota’s brand for youth customers. Today, the mother-brand announced the end of Scion era.
From August 2016 on, all the cars in Scion portfolio will be sold under Toyota name. In its entire existence, Scion achieved its goal, managing to bring Toyota new young costumers. With over one million cars sold, 70% of Scion customers were new to Toyota. More, 50% of them were under 35 years old. But, if it was that successful, why close Scion? Well, Toyota say that, in time, Toyota cars became more stylish and therefore the existence of Scion can’t be justified anymore.
Toyota attributes fulfill every young costumer’s wish: they produce fun-to-drive, good-looking, dynamic and reliable cars, so they cover most of the market, including the young costumers. The average customers’ age is 36 years old, making Scion the youngest brand on the auto market. More, tC sports coupe’s buyers average 29 year old, which makes it the youngest-pointed car in the industry. The most recent models, the iA sedan and iM hatchback attracted new customers, for 70% of clients being their first new car. Half of the customers are under 35 years old.
Let’s look at the future of Scion models: FR-S, iA and iM will be rebadged. tC will be discontinued in August 2016. The C-HR, recently revealed at L.A. Auto Show, will become a part of Toyota model range. None of the service, repair and warranty process for Scion cars will be affected by the rebadge. This the official version. My version is not as happy: unfortunately, Scion sold lesser cars over the last years and eventually all the lack of success killed the brand. I’m sorry for the brand itself as much I’m sorry for all its employees…
