DETROIT — Toyota Motor Co.p. is bringing its experiment to court young buyers to the Midwest just ahead of the launch of the third Scion brand vehicle — the sleek tC coupe priced under $17,000.
More conventionally styled than Scion’s boxy xB, the tC coming out later this month aspires to match young buyers’ fussy demands with their modest starting salaries.
Scion’s research shows that when Gen-X and Y consumers describe their dream cars, they envision expensive European coupes even more than their parents.
Featuring refined touches such as a standard glass roof and cell-phone holder, the tC was also engineered to handle more tautly — like European cars rather than Toyota’s small models.
“When we say luxury expectations at a subcompact price, we mean it,” Scion Vice President Jim Farley said. “We’re convinced there’s nothing in this category of vehicles that can touch this kind of value.”
Launched in California a year ago, Scion — a brand sold only in the United States — has gradually expanded to other regions. Sales in the Midwest and Pacific Northwest begin this week.
Toyota’s 10 Metro Detroit dealers have all signed up to sell Scion vehicles, agreeing to the brand’s trademark “no-haggle” pricing policy.
“We’ve sold every one that we have been allocated so far,” said Josh Lohman, Scion sales manager at La Fontaine Toyota in Dearborn.
“We’ve had a couple of guys who were 50-55 years old, but the majority of customers are younger buyers in their mid-20s who hadn’t been in a Toyota showroom before.”
Toyota created Scion to target the next generation of car shoppers and rejuvenate its customer base. The average age of Toyota buyers is 48, roughly the same age as General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler AG Chrysler Group customers.
Scion started out with two vehicles, the $13,000 xA hatchback and the popular $14,000 xB, which accounted for two-thirds of the brand’s 11,000 sales in 2003.
With the tC, Toyota expects Scion sales to rise to 100,000 next year from an estimated 75,000 in 2004.
Full Story HERE
More conventionally styled than Scion’s boxy xB, the tC coming out later this month aspires to match young buyers’ fussy demands with their modest starting salaries.
Scion’s research shows that when Gen-X and Y consumers describe their dream cars, they envision expensive European coupes even more than their parents.
Featuring refined touches such as a standard glass roof and cell-phone holder, the tC was also engineered to handle more tautly — like European cars rather than Toyota’s small models.
“When we say luxury expectations at a subcompact price, we mean it,” Scion Vice President Jim Farley said. “We’re convinced there’s nothing in this category of vehicles that can touch this kind of value.”
Launched in California a year ago, Scion — a brand sold only in the United States — has gradually expanded to other regions. Sales in the Midwest and Pacific Northwest begin this week.
Toyota’s 10 Metro Detroit dealers have all signed up to sell Scion vehicles, agreeing to the brand’s trademark “no-haggle” pricing policy.
“We’ve sold every one that we have been allocated so far,” said Josh Lohman, Scion sales manager at La Fontaine Toyota in Dearborn.
“We’ve had a couple of guys who were 50-55 years old, but the majority of customers are younger buyers in their mid-20s who hadn’t been in a Toyota showroom before.”
Toyota created Scion to target the next generation of car shoppers and rejuvenate its customer base. The average age of Toyota buyers is 48, roughly the same age as General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler AG Chrysler Group customers.
Scion started out with two vehicles, the $13,000 xA hatchback and the popular $14,000 xB, which accounted for two-thirds of the brand’s 11,000 sales in 2003.
With the tC, Toyota expects Scion sales to rise to 100,000 next year from an estimated 75,000 in 2004.
Full Story HERE
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