GreenMonster

hey gavriil, did you miss this one ?? Or do new econoboxes (element wannabees) not get covered in automotive news

Doesn't look like a bad deal for $15K, even tho' it only has about 108hp.

edit: oh, yeah... here's a link:

www.scion.com

Red Nj-s

ugly, won't sell

Why don't car companies realize that kids like affordable, good looking, and (sometimes) fast cars.

Kids also like suv's. Kids HATE station wagons, and cars that resemble minivans.

Sarlacc

scion will sell because they are very affordable with tons of "customizing" options. much more relaible acertainable option then a shit ford or a hyundai.

Now whether you like them or not is another questions. Id never buy one, i think they are fugly.

But they werent designed for me or you, they are for majority lower income people. So think of it like this scion or ford festiva??? Not too hard a choice.

Zoot

oh and the reason why scion hasn't been mentioned on this forum is because the news is over a year old.

Sarlacc

Besides that who doesnt want to own a car with factory options like mutli changing color lit drink holders and interior lighting

CLUofI

I am scions target customer and there is no way i would ever buy one OR let anyone i know buy one.

heyitsme

i can imagine that Bb selling well, can't say it looks worse than an element, 2400lbs has some potential for power upgrades.

GreenMonster

it was news to me. I gotta start paying attention

It kinda looks like the old vw Freidolin.

kansaiwalker1

Exec asks Toyota to double Scion output before nationwide launch


By MARK RECHTIN | Automotive News

LOS ANGELES - Scion Vice President Jim Farley went to Japan on a mission: Get more vehicles.

Dealing with only a nine-day supply of the boxy xB and wedge-shaped xA hatchbacks, Farley went to see his bosses at Toyota Motor Corp. to beg for more factory output. He's confident he got it.

Farley says he's pretty sure Toyota will double xB production in time for Scion's Feb. 3 launch in the Southwest, Southeast and along the Atlantic Coast. Scion now is sold only in California but will go nationwide in 2004.

The major obstacle to increased xB production is that the popular Japan-market Sienta is built on the same assembly line.

Scion's launch plan estimated that about 20,000 xBs would be sold in 2004, but Farley has upped the projection to 35,000 or 40,000 units. From its mid-June launch through September, Scion has sold 2,320 xAs and 4,094 xBs.

Scion executives aim to sell 100,000 vehicles a year in 2005 after a third car is added to the lineup.

Scion has caught on with minorities more than expected, Farley says. About 35 percent of Scion buyers are Asian or Hispanic. The average household income is about $68,000, and 25 percent pay cash. The average age is in the low 30s.

The xA starts at $12,965; the xB starts at $14,165. Both prices include freight.

Seventy percent of xB buyers are male. More important, Farley says, 74 percent are new to Toyota.

While the xA has been cross-shopped steadily against the Toyota Corolla S and Matrix, Farley says, the xB is an all-or-nothing affair, with no cross-shopping indicated in surveys.

Mutliline dealer Fritz Hitchcock, who operates three Scion stores from his base in Puente Hills, Calif., says the Scion dealer discount doesn't generate much profit. But, he says, accessories and finance and insurance have made the two Scions his second-best-grossing Toyota vehicles after the Sienna minivan.

"Dealers have learned to (accessorize) them," Hitchcock says.

Farley has been pleased to see Scions selling well despite a lack of mass-market advertising. Even more encouraging, market research shows that 50 percent of the 18- to 34-year-old Californians surveyed know what Scion is.

Says Farley: "The No. 1 way people are finding out about Scion is seeing it on the road or having a friend show it to them."

But keeping owners loyal to Scion, or even to Toyota and Lexus, will be a big challenge. In surveys, Farley says Toyota has found that many Scion owners expect their next car to be a BMW 3 series - not a Toyota or Lexus. Scion was created to bring more younger buyers into the Toyota tent and keep them there.

ruski_RENAMED

they think they will be able to sell those boxy clown cars?

charliemike

I think it's great that they are selling so well. It will give manufacturers reasons to take chances in the future and not give us this derivative crap we're used to seeing ...

Hello GM? You listening?

AcuraFan

Very very true. Automakers have to step outside the box and try new things...and I love the Element for that reason. But I have to wonder about the xB. Didn't Toyota try to market that toward the youth in Japan and it bombed? I don't know where I read that though.

I think the xB has it all wrong. The Element is an innovative car with innovative styling...a nice configurable back (flat floor, folding out of the way seats, etc)...decent power and an AWD option. The xB has the styling down alright (albeit a little copycatish) but that's it. Everything else screams "cheap crappy economy car" to me.

heyitsme

can't stand the element, be nice if the plastic sides and interior were an option.

as far as scion being cheap, thats what i thought it was for, to attract first time car buyers. the xb starts at 13.6k, lot more room inside than most 13k econoboxes, actually kinda nice inside.



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1SICKLEX

Wow, I guess I was wrong. I thought they would fail. They are loaded for under 20k. JDM must really be hot for this to sell.

Or they could be like all the Element buyers I see, mid 70s buying reliable transportation with space.

Sarlacc

They wont fail sadly those ugly things are everywhere out here in la, I see 3-4 everyday. they are a huge hit.

kansaiwalker1

Scions are not my cup of tea but I see a lot of them around here. Those Scion guys have their own car forum where they can brag about beating Integra Gs-Rs too


http://www.scionlife.com/forums/

1SICKLEX

http://www.scion-owners.com/modules.php?name=Forums

WHOA, a cult following...

Guru

Whoa didn't even know they sold these already. Haven't even seen one on the street. Seen a lot of Elements though, but even more 03 elements still on dealer lots.

But I guess these cars are great for audio freaks who just cruz around bumping their music.

xrunner86x

If you read the article, they are only being sold in California right now.

Ashburner

My 17 year old sister has a loaded xB with leather and the works. It is silver and has some really nice 18" rims and low profile pirelli's. It's sweet looking!

1SICKLEX

uHHH, u know the Xb turns into a big big bed right.

Python2121

hhhahahahah

my fav quote from the scion web site

no comment, except that they are talking about 0-60

kansaiwalker1

There is even a guy on the Scionlife site who claims he chose a Scion over a Honda S2000. Yeah, right. Probably could not afford the S in the first place....

Chaptorial

The Scion is fugly.

Moog-Type-S

1SICKLEX

I don't think Ralph Nadar would pick a Scion over a S2000.

kansaiwalker1

related article:

Posted on Fri, Nov. 14, 2003

Scion's Day in the Sun
6-MONTH-OLD TOYOTA BRAND EMBRACED BY `TUNER' WORLD
By Matt Nauman
Mercury News

LAS VEGAS - L.J. Garcia made his name customizing yellow Honda Civics.

His cars -- plus 15 covers on magazines like Super Street -- have made him a celebrity in the ``tuner'' world.

But now he's created something different, an $80,000 xA from Toyota's youth-targeted Scion brand. In yellow, of course. It's his signature color.

It's something new for Garcia, 29, who lives in Southern California. And it's something important for Scion, a new brand that went on sale, only in California, earlier this year.

``So far, so good,'' said Jim Farley, Scion's vice president, when asked to assess the brand's nearly six months on the market in California.

Early sales success and a strong response from the accessory market, as evidenced by the number of Scions on display at the Specialty Equipment Market Association trade show in Las Vegas earlier this month, have buoyed Farley's confidence.

Some numbers:

• Since June 9, 7,690 Scions have sold, with sales increasing about 200 each month. Scion dealers only have a nine-day supply of the cars right now, Farley said. The industry average is about 60 days. Farley has gone to Japan to seek more cars for U.S. showrooms. The xA is outselling the Mini Cooper in California, he said, while the xB is outselling Toyota's own RAV4 sport-utility in the Golden State.

• Sales of the boxy xB continue to top those of the wedgy xA. Dealers sold 766 xBs in October and 510 xAs. ``Frankly, the xB shocked us,'' Farley said.

• The average age of Scion buyers is 35, he said. That's well below the industry average of 46, and Toyota's average buyer age of 47.

• The average Scion buyer adds $1,200 in accessories -- from special wheels and bold graphic elements to red shift knobs and louder stereos -- right at the dealership. That's three times what an average Toyota buyer adds, Farley said.

All this becomes even more important to Toyota because, in February, it'll launch Scion in two dozen other states, basically everywhere except the Midwest and the Pacific Northwest. This will triple Scion's sales volume, Farley said.

And, based on the xB's California success, Farley predicts it'll account for 65 percent of sales nationwide (vs. 35 percent for the xA). Also, based on his recent visit to Japan, he should have enough cars through the first quarter of 2004. ``We don't know what's going to happen after that,'' he said.

The rest of the nation gets Scion later in 2004.

There's evidence that Scion's appeal is already strong nationwide. Nearly 400 of the first Scions sold were registered outside California, although they're not sold elsewhere yet. In fact, Farley said, Scions have been registered in 27 states so far.

Scion relied on innovative marketing to launch the brand. It had a major Web presence, sponsored concert tours, joined with hip-hop and other youth-culture magazines on various events and even used spotlights to flash words and images on buildings to let people know that Scion had arrived.

Still, Farley said, ``the thing that was shocking to us is that the No. 1 way people find out about Scion is they see the car on the street.''

In fact, it wasn't until three months after the brand launched in California that even 50 percent of potential buyers here knew it existed.

That means, Farley said, that Scion will be doing many more consumer test drives and other events that put the vehicle in front of buyers as it moves toward nationwide sales.

``We tried a lot of new things, and some have worked better than others,'' he said.

At the SEMA show, with its 2 million square feet of convention-center space, 1,800 booths of products and 1,500 cars on display, Farley was all but ready to declare the xB as ``the'' car of the show. Perhaps 15 to 20 of them were heavily customized and on display at various booths.

That's still a tiny number compared with the number of Ford trucks, Honda Civics and Hummer H2s on exhibit, but it's significant.

``That's how we measure success,'' Farley said. ``That's the ultimate endorsement for us.''

In Toyota's own booth, there was an interesting Scion complete with parts from Toyota's TRD after-market parts group. That version, with its supercharger, gets a significant horsepower boost over the stock Scion. Farley all but confirmed it'll show up in showrooms next year, saying the company is doing quality and durability testing right now.

And, at a Scion-sponsored party at Risque in Las Vegas' Paris hotel, a salesman from one of its Southern California stores said the brand would show off its third model at the Los Angeles auto show in January. He said it would be called the tC ( because Volvo already has an xC model) and that it would come with a factory super-charger.

A Scion spokeswoman wouldn't confirm this, saying Toyota doesn't talk about future products.

For Garcia, his yellow Scion xA represents a transformation of the car. The standard xA is too tall, looks too top heavy. ``The persona of it is a girl's car,'' he said.

So, he added a wide body kit that expanded it by four inches on each side. He added custom 19-inch wheels, a special audio and video system with three screens, and two sunroofs ``to get more light in there and just because it looks cool, I guess.'' He also added four racing seats.

Once a TRD super-charger is added, he'll chrome the Scion's underside and its engine.

``Nothing was untouched,'' he said.

The result? An xA with a base price of about $13,000 is now worth between $80,000 and $85,000, including parts and labor. The car will make the show circuit, reaping publicity for Garcia, the companies that provided the parts and Scion.

Scion ``hit the right market,'' Garcia said. ``Scion came in at a time where the youth are looking for something new, rather than just regular Honda Civics and Integras, and they brought something new,'' he said.

What's most important, Farley said, is that Scion is bringing in young male buyers, 80 percent of whom haven't owned a Toyota before.

``That's the part of this experiment that no one knew would work or not,'' he said. ``We're happy with it.''

SilverCL225hp

I only want to know what the xC would be. I hope it is not using that 1.5L I4 engine anymore. It would sell if the car comes with a 2.0+ I4 with 180hp+ for under $16,000 base price.

Ashburner

That's why she got it... she is fat :P

gavriil

Scion, the new marque from Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc., will stage the world premier of the Scion tC sports coupe at a press conference at the 2004 North American International Auto Show in Detroit.


Sales of the tC, designed specifically for the U.S. market, will begin in June 2004 and will coincide with the national launch of the Scion brand. The reveal will be held on Monday, Jan. 5 at the Riverfront Ballroom in COBO Center.

Source: Unknown

CLUofI

Any bets on this having 108 hp too.

or is the tC, turboCharged.

gavriil

Have no idea. Nice guess though (tC = Turbocharged). I hope you're right.

kansaiwalker1

Have they released any pics of the front yet? Or are we to be kept in suspence until the 2004 Detroit auto show?

Speed_Racer

Amazing what a camera angle can do to a 2 door Corolla. . .

fahoumh

January 5th?

Wxguy95

This is just a replacement to the Celica. Toyota is killing the Celica here and filling the 'incredibly small and ugly yet under powered coupe' niche with whatever this thing is.

Black CL-S 4-Life

Damn I didn't know Toyota was killing the Celica.

Chaptorial

Are they really?

Speed_Racer

Yup. Only thing left of the Celica in the US is the engine in the Lotus Elise.

Infamous425

the rear looks nice