It is safe to say that few drivers will miss Toyota's Echo, whose greatest impact was to lend its mediocre mechanicals to a range of attention-getting Scions. Those Scions derive most of their entertainment value from their styling, rather than their dynamism - which might make one wistful for the MR2 and Celica, both of which had departed Toyota's range by 2005.

Scion is born in the mid-1990s, when Toyota researchers look at the age of the average Toyota buyer (47); do a few calculations, and conclude that the mainstream Japanese brand is losing young buyers to hipper brands like Volkswagen. Generation Y is touted to represent 65 million peoples' buying power by 2010. For less than $500 million, Scion is created with two initial models: the xA and xB.

Defiantly boxy, 43 years after Renault's 4 debuted something similar (and, arguably, better), the Scions adopt the Honda Element's idea of fashion. The xB, is particularly rectilinear, and resolutely pedestrian in its detailing. "I guess Toyota believes that young people like goofy-looking stuff," ventures GM's Bob Lutz at the New York 2003 (Detroit News, April 20^th, 2003).

Responds Scion Vice-President Jim Farley, "I couldn't care less about Detroit... Detroit got its ass kicked trying to market to kids.

"My prediction is that they will follow us."

Farley moves to Lexus, and then, in 2007, becomes Ford's first chief marketing and communications officer.

Meanwhile, Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn, whose company's Nissan Xterra proves particularly popular with Gen Y, seems as unimpressed as Lutz. "When you make a call to young people, old people will buy it," he remarks.

"Young people are going to select what they want. The Xterra was not meant for young buyers, but they selected it" ('Few automakers ready to follow in footsteps of Toyota's Scion small-car strategy,' Mark Rechtin, Automotive News, February 7^th, 2003).

Well before Scion, the young have been drawn into modifying the most basic of econoboxes. With Scion, Toyota hopes to tap into this trend, offering the basic vehicle as a canvas for expression, with lengthy options lists including cold-air intakes; body graphics; interior lighting modifications, and clear tail-lights.


xA and xB share the Toyota Echo's 105-horsepower, 1.5-liter engine, making them surprisingly slow for vehicles aimed at Generation Y.

Dynamically, a generation on, there is still no vehicle in Scion's line-up that should worry Volkswagen. Ironically, Toyota's own (defunct) MR2 was a whole lot more enjoyable than any Scion.

Scions are generally neither quick nor particularly enjoyable to drive, being rebodied variants of entry-level cars that Toyota generally sells elsewhere on the globe. Yet the degree of customization that Scion offers, at this price point, was unprecedented at the brand's launch.


In something of a resurrection of the '80s Plymouth Scamp; Subaru BRAT, and Volkswagen Caddy, Toyota is reportedly considering adding a 2-door uni-body pick-up, based on the xB, to its Scion line-up. With the xB having grown in size, reports suggest that the vehicle will be based on this platform, its design inspired by the Fuse Concept of the New York 2006.

The compact pick-up class is, in the U.S. market, currently inhabited only by Ford's body-on-frame Ranger. Chrysler in 2001 showed a PT Cruiser Pickup Concept, although the vehicle was never built.

In Europe, Renault in 2007 launches a uni-body pick-up version of its Dacia Logan sedan.

Assuming that Microsoft does not sue, the name bandied-about as of mid-2007 is xP (P for pickup).


Like Saturn nearly fifteen years before it, Scion adopts a haggle-free pricing strategy. In a departure from common practice, Toyota refrains from asking its dealers to make massive investments to sell Scions. These aspects, combined with a comprehensive list of dealer-installed accessories, give the new brand a good chance of ensuring dealer profitability, despite its entry-level models.