Future Scion vehicles will be branded as Toyota as the manufacturer has announced that they are doing away with the Scion brand.
Toyota Integrating Scion Vehicles Into Toyota Banner, Dropping Name
In 2002, Toyota introduced a new lineup of vehicles for younger car buyers who wanted something a little outside the norm. That lineup of vehicles was introduced as Scion and connected Toyota with a demographic that stayed arms-length from the Toyota vehicles their parents drove.
Now in their fifteenth model year, Toyota has announced that they are doing away with the Scion brand. It’s not because Scion vehicles were struggling to sell. In thirteen years, the niche stylings of Scion netted them over a million vehicles sold. The reason Toyota is disbanding their small startup is because they feel they’ve reconnected with the younger market.
The senior vice president of operations for Toyota Motor Sales, Bob Carter, told Automotive News, “Youth buyers are in a completely different position than they were 13 years ago…That’s really what’s driving this decision.”
Carter believes that the youth market isn’t trying as much to stand apart from their parents, and are more accepting of the Toyota brand – even more so than the Scion brand currently. The brand isn’t being invested in nearly as much as it was since the global recession.
Scion vehicles will not cease to exist, just the brand name. Toyota will roll the Scion lineup into their own, making the list of models under one umbrella extremely lengthy. There are no plans to cut any Scion models except the Scion tC which was already discontinued for the 2016 model year. Toyota will not be trimming any of their own models either.
For 2017, all Scion models will be branded as Toyota, and all operations from sales to service will continue as they have in the past. Carter says, “There’s absolutely no change to the consumer. Everything remains the same. We’re simply changing the brand and the logos.”
Toyota has reclaimed its global dominance of and is dedicated to keeping atop the list of top-selling and top-quality car manufacturers. The belief is that consolidating Scion vehicles under the same roof will strengthen their hold on the market and not weaken it.
