Fleeting Youth: Toyota Is Shuttering Its Scion Division

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The sun is setting on Scion, Toyota’s youth-oriented division, at the ripe age of 14. Toyota has announced that, starting in August, the iA, iM, FR-S, and the upcoming C-HR crossover will all be sold as Toyotas instead. The tC will be discontinued.

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Launched with much fanfare in 2002, Scion was at once a bold experiment and an admission of failure. Scion attempted to shake up the sales model, with no-haggle pricing and only dealer-installed options. The brand was also a tacit admission that, a new generation of buyers, Toyota was an old-person’s brand.

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Scion aggressively pursued hipness, sponsoring concerts, giving away a series of music compilation CDs (back when people used to listen to CDs). The initial lineup consisted of two cars, the xA and the xB—the former a rather forgettable subcompact hatchback but the ultra-square xB (above) was as trendy and cool as an underground Tokyo nightclub.

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The tC coupe joined the lineup the following year, and became the brand’s bestselling model. Scion had its best year ever, with 173,034 units sold, in 2006. It seemed, however, that the division really didn’t know how to move forward from there.

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In 2007, the xA was supplanted by the xD and the xB was redesigned (the new models are seen above at their Chicago auto show debut). Both were substantially bigger and heavier than their predecessors, and they landed in the market with a thud. Even less successful was the iQ, a tiny Smart ForTwo competitor that sold in equally tiny numbers.

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For 2012, Toyota gave its Subaru joint-venture sports car to the Scion division to sell as the FR-S (in other markets it was a Toyota). But as much as we liked—and still do like—the compact, rear-drive two-plus-two, it was never going to be a volume product.

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Finally, last year Scion started to address its new-model drought. The iA (a rebadged Mazda 2 sedan) and the iM (a decidedly mediocre hatchback) were introduced, to replace the xD and xB. And Toyota’s C-HR compact crossover concept was headed for Scion showrooms, which would have given the brand its first-ever SUV.

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• Executing a Stalefish: Scion Reveals Final xB Special Edition

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• 2016 Scion iM Tested: Not Your Father’s Geo, Except It Sort of Is

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• Scion Brand Research: Full Pricing, Specs, Reviews, and More

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Instead, Toyota is pulling the plug on its youth experiment. Now, the C-HR will go to Toyota, which also will sell the iA and iM—although who knows for how long. The FR-S will continue as a Toyota as well. The tC will fade away, the final model being ushered out with a Release Series special edition, going the way so many aging Scion models have gone before.

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from Car and Driver Blog http://blog.caranddriver.com/fleeting-youth-toyota-is-shuttering-its-scion-division/