ARE WE TO BLAME FOR SCION'S DEATH?

So long Scion.

Undoubtedly the news of ToyMoCo’s youth-based brand Scion’s demise has filtered its way through various forms of media to your eyes and/or ears. Car brands occasionally disappear. Scion is laid to rest amongst the AMCs, Studebakers, Pontiacs, and Datsuns of yore.

Thirteen years ago Toyota bucked the typical Japanese North American marketing trend by introducing a third brand. We were all familiar with the parent brand and up-market brand strategy, i.e. Nissan/Infinity, Toyota/Lexus, and Honda/Acura. Scion represented a daring three-pronged assault on the North American car buyer. Scion targeted the youth in hopes to send them through to Toyota and ultimately into plush Lexus leather. Initially, it was a good plan that exploded throughout enthusiast culture. Scion products were found everywhere from time attack and SCCA Solo podiums, to show winner’s circles, and most definitely banging doors in Formula D. Alas, every so often a good thing must come to an end. Shrinking sales have forced the brand out. What does this mean for a enthusiast and motorsport culture that is crawling with Scion products?

Fortunately, the Scion story is not entirely over. Scion Racing hastily put all doubts aside with this Instagram proclamation:

With this revelation it is can be assumed that crowd-favorite Formula D Scion Racing drivers Fredric Aasbo and Ken Gushi will likely remain Scion pilots. Their fans were quick to offer support:

Rejoice, the FRS is not slated to die with the brand. The ZN-platform is to continue on as a Toyota product, along with several other models. In actuality, many may prefer the original Toyota badging that some Scion FRS owners have had to source through Japanese dealers. I guess there’s always a silver lining…

But is there? Sure many of the products will live on. However, what does this say for the market? A major OEM creates a brand for us. It makes the effort to create an entire brand targeted directly at the young guys and girls that want to lower their cars, play with them, turbocharge them, show them, drive them, race them, and make them their own. Not just a single model. No, Toyota created an entire line for the market that we comprise. What was the response? Thirteen years of slowly declining sales and eventually – failure. Maybe the xBs and xAs were off the mark? Maybe the tC didn’t bring enough Civic to out-Civic the Civic? Maybe the FRS fell short? The criticisms can be endless. Brand loyalty aside, is Scion’s downfall a tacit representation of a failure of our scene as a whole? Our interest, our passion, whatever you want to call it… maybe it didn’t create a market strong enough to support a brand. Maybe we are still merely a niche not worth marketing to. Not worth satisfying. That’s how it works, right? We bemoan the phasing out of manual transmissions and fun cars – but when a manufacturer makes an effort we fail to respond. Let the short-lived Scion brand stand as a lesson. They won’t make what we want if we don’t buy it when they make it. The opportunity to make a lasting impact on this market still exists; it is up to us to ensure its success.

Long live Scion.

Do you think we are to blame for Scion's demise? Let us know in the comments below.