Toyota's youth-oriented Scion brand has been the hardest hit of all its divisions, facing a sales decline nearly twice as large as that witnessed by the entire corporation. In order to inject some life into the brand, Toyota's new U.S. sales chief wants to expand the lineup to ensure the range is still fresh.
"One of my jobs is to revive the Scion spirit in the United States," Yoshimi Inaba, chairman and CEO of Toyota Motor Sales USA, said. "For the Scion business model, product freshness is key."
Today, Scion has just three vehicles in its lineup: the xB and xD hatchbacks and the tC coupe. The first generation of the xB--a funky, boxy hatchback--was Scion's most successful vehicle. A redesign in 2008 rendered the xB more usable, but somewhat more conservative in design. Shortly afterward, sales began to fall. In 2009, Scion sales are down 60 percent, compared with Toyota's overall drop of 38 percent.
In order to counter falling sales, Toyota will likely add more vehicles from its foreign markets that don't jive with its eponymous brand's image in the U.S.--perhaps even the iQ. Although the iQ is sold as a Toyota in Japan and Europe (the European iQ is pictured), it certainly doesn't meet U.S. consumers' expectations for Toyota as a safe, conservative automaker. The iQ does, however, fit in with the hip, quirky image carried by Scion.
Whatever Toyota decides to do with Scion, it must act quickly--other automakers are capitalizing on its complacency. Vehicles like the 2010 Nissan Cube and 2010 Kia Soul have successfully recreated the eccentricity of the original xB, and will likely win over buyers who might otherwise have opted for a Scion.
Source: The Detroit News