Jump to content
News
Reviews
Discussons
Activity
Create New...
Close

  • 💬 Join the Conversation

    CnG Logo SQ 2023 RedBlue FavIcon300w.png
    Since 2001, Cheers & Gears has been the go-to hub for automotive enthusiasts. Join today to access our vibrant forums, upload your vehicle to the Garage, and connect with fellow gearheads around the world.

     

  • William Maley
    William Maley

    By William Maley •

    Scion: Less Dealers May Be More

    William Maley

    Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com

    August 19, 2013

    Scion has billed itself as being the offbeat, youth oriented brand in the Toyota group. So it comes as a bit of surprise to find out that Scion currently has 1,100 dealers across the U.S. - 200 fewer than Toyota. Considering Scion's small lineup and declining sales over the past few years, this isn't good news.

    With all of these factors in play, it doesn't come as a surprise that Toyota's US group vice president, Bill Fay said to Wards Auto that Scion's dealer network "might actually go down a little bit." Then this week, a Texas dealer told Automotive News that Toyota will allow dealers to stop selling Scion with no repercussions.

    "If you don't want Scion, if it doesn't work for you, it's OK if you want to walk away," the dealer said.

    How did so many dealers end up with Scion? They wanted a piece of the massive sales success the brand was experiencing in the first few years. In 2006, Scion moved 173,034 units, well above the niche-level sales the brand was projecting at time. But since then, sales have been falling. Total sales in 2012 were 73,505 units.

    “Mini has about 115 (stores), Volvo has about 300, Lincoln wants about 325, Infiniti has about 200, so I would probably expect Scion to have between 350-500 but placed in more strategic locations,” said Dave Sullivan, analyst for AutoPacific.

    What lies ahead for Scion? Fay mentioned that Toyota is considering a few possibilities for the brand. One of those includes moving the brand to a premium level. Toyota also showed dealers a couple of products that are in the pipeline; the FR-S Cabriolet which is or is not dead and a subcompact crossover.

    Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required), Wards Auto

    William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at [email protected] or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.

    Go to articles

    User Feedback

    Recommended Comments

    G. David Felt

    I highly doubt this number as here on the west coast, the Scion is a room within the toyota dealership. Not a stand alone dealership. I wonder just how many stand alone scion dealerships with their own show room, repair facilities, etc that is not part of a larger Toyota dealership really exist?

    I would betcha that probably 80-90% are a dealership within a dealership.

    So cost would probably be low to kill off a slow selling product line.

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites
    Drew Dowdell

    Two brand new and one completely rebuilt Toyota dealers have gone up near me. SCION is but a corner in the new dealerships.

    The dealership that was rebuilt booted Scion out of its building on the same lot and used it for the Toyota brand while the Toyota building was flattened and rebuilt. At the end of construction, the Scion building was flattened to make room for more lot space.

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites
    dwightlooi

    Problem with Scion since then has been that it has too many models! Back when it was new, Scion only had the xA, the xB and the tC. Now it has the xD, xB, iQ, tC and the FR-S. Maybe they should drop the xD and the tC and focus on cars that are unique in the market place within or without the Toyota umbrella.

    And make those car more unique... maybe a Turbocharged 3 cylinder for the iQ or AWD for the xB?

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites
    riviera74

    Excuse me, but what is the point of Scion again? Fewer dealers does not correct for poor product mix and falling sales. Just terminate Scion; this is looking more like Saturn semi-done right.

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites


    Join the conversation

    You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
    Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

    Guest
    Add a comment...

    ×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

      Only 75 emoji are allowed.

    ×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

    ×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

    ×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

    ×



  • Support Real Automotive Journalism

    Cheers and Gears Logo

    Since 2001, Cheers & Gears has delivered real content and honest opinions — not emotionless AI output or manufacturer-filtered fluff.

    If you value independent voices and authentic reviews, consider subscribing. Plans start at just $2.25/month, and paid members enjoy an ad-light experience.*

    You can view subscription options here.

    *a very limited number of ads contain special coupon deals for our members and will show

  • Similar Content

  • Posts

    • oldshurst442
      Beautiful Cars Appreciation Thread

      By oldshurst442 · Posted

    • G. David Felt
      Random Thoughts Thread

      By G. David Felt · Posted

      Very cool, seems Chinese EVs are here being compared by American companies so that hopefully we do not fall too far behind. A Xiaomi EV was spotted in America, and a US maker might be behind it
    • G. David Felt
      Random Thoughts Thread

      By G. David Felt · Posted

      Kia just showed off in Brussels their Global release of the EV3, EV4, and EV5 GT editions. Full details are here. Kia electrifies Brussels Motor Show with three new GT models: EV3, EV4 and EV5 | Releases | Official Media Site NEWSROOM
    • oldshurst442
      Random Thoughts Thread

      By oldshurst442 · Posted

      Phoque him and las vegas!!! Phoque the whole damned country that is the usa!!!  Fix your own shyte! Canadians need not be a money mine for any american tourist site or area!!! trump and many maga a&&hol3s want to make Canada an enemy and actually want to occupy Canada. Many other americans are phoquing clueless to  trump's bullshyte!!!   Phoque that!!! There are only a hair above 40 million Canadians. There are a hair below 350 million americans.  trump said and continues to say that he and the usa does not need anything Canadian.  So phoque trump and phoque the usa!!!  Let americans visit and tourist las vegas and any other american area.  desantis who says continually "who needs Canadians?" and he FALSELY claimed last December  that florida had record breaking visitors mocking Canada's boycott to florida!!! Like I said...fix your OWN shyte!!!  Let the mayor of las vegas strike up a deal and pour marketing money INTO florida begging floridians to visit las vegas.  There are a hair below 25 million a&&hol3s in florida. floridians could visit las vegas!!!  And las vegans and nevadans could return the favour and visit Disney...  In fact, all of america could visit there OWN phoquing country and do their own phoquing tourist vacations within their OWN phoquing dumb a$$ country!!! Canada and Canadians NEED to stay the PHOQUE away from shytty usa!!!  Get killed by an ice agent?  Phoque off!!! Get accosted by a border agent???  Phoque off!!! Get robbed by a desperate down and out american loser because he voted for trump and trump phoqued him?  Phoque off!!!  But you know what the REAL sad news is about this whole shyte???!!!   https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/southern-alberta-mustangs-collision-9.7071643   Rest in Peace 3 Southern Alberta Mustang junior hockey players died in a car crash yesterday afternoon. 2 were from British Columbia and the other boy from Birmingham Alabama.  ALABAMA... The kid was from Alabama playing hockey. In CANADA!!!  And the reverse happens quite often. Kids from Flin Flon Manitoba, play in the States in hockey with US scholarships...   Kids from Boston come to Montreal  and play for McGill or Concordia and Montreal kids play for Boston College...  Its quite sad that trump has made us enemies...   Its even sadder that some americans have accepted it!!!   
    • G. David Felt
      Random Thoughts Thread

      By G. David Felt · Posted

      Hyundai Reported Sales

  • Who's Online (See full list)

    • There are no registered users currently online

  • My Clubs

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.

Hey there, we noticed you're using an ad-blocker. We're a small site that is supported by ads or subscriptions. We rely on these to pay for server costs and vehicle reviews.  Please consider whitelisting us in your ad-blocker, or if you really like what you see, you can pick up one of our subscriptions for just $1.75 a month or $15 a year. It may not seem like a lot, but it goes a long way to help support real, honest content, that isn't generated by an AI bot.

See you out there.

Drew
Editor-in-Chief

I've whitelisted
Continue without support

Write what you are looking for and press enter or click the search icon to begin your search