2012 Scion iQ
Have a look at the Scion iQ minicar at the Toronto auto show. It's really a very interesting take on a pint-sized urban runabout and it's one of my favourites at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre (North Building, to be exact).
The iQ, say the Scion people, will have higher quality interior materials and better ride and handling than segment competitors such as Daimler AG's Smart car and BMW AG's Mini Cooper, he said.
And unlike the Smart fortwo, says Toyota Canada managing director Stephen Beatty, the iQ seats four (while the fortwo is, you guessed it, for two).
Here's the bigger question, though, and ponder it as you scan the Scion stand: Does Scion actually have a future at all?
George Peterson of industry consultant AutoPacific, recently told Automotive News, "Scion can be considered a noble experiment that possibly failed." Is Scion a failure, even though the brand only launched in Canada last September and it not a decade old in the U.S.?
The U.S. experience is not promising. Toyota launched Scion in the U.S., in 2003 to lure young buyers with "unexpected" designs and low prices.
Scion sales peaked at 173,034 units in 2006. Deliveries of xB wagons, xD hatchbacks and tC sport coupes have since collapsed to the 50,000-or-less range in the U.S. Scion sells a couple of hundred vehicles in Canada each month, or has been so far.
Naturally, Toyota and Scion have been scrambling to fix what ails Scion. Some Scion types say the brand may turn to offering more expensive vehicles.
That strategy runs counter to Scion's reason for being. It seems that rather than appeal only to young drivers, Scion wants to pull in those with a "young mindset" and a little money, too.
The problem for Scion in the U.S. is simple: the U.S. unemployment for those in their early 20s is about double the overall national average. Potential Scion buyers are now mostly living in their parents' basements.
We do have reason to believe that Scion is working on a performance-oriented vehicle that may be shown this year. Obviously not for basement-dweller consumption.
Scion officials are also saying a production version of the A-BAT pickup concept from the 2008 Detroit auto show remains a possibility. Apparently, the idea of a parcel carrier not meant for heavy hauling is attractive to Gen Y buyers, even if they sleep in the basement.
The Hako concept is also under consideration by Toyota product planners. The boxy Hako coupe concept is under study as a "creative-utility" vehicle. The Hako appeared at the 2009 New York show.
Toyota created Scion to bring a little fun and fashion to the auto world. Young buyers would trip over themselves racing to own vehicles with edgy, crazy designs. From there, these owners would become Toyota brand loyalists for life.
Do you see a future for that plan when you walk around the Scion stand at the auto show?
Frankly, I don't, even though I love that little iQ, which would be just as appealing with a Toyota badge.