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

    David

    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
    David

    This is a dying product line that could be an executive pet project and until that person retires and then Toyota will probably just do away with it. There really is no need for this product line.

    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.

    ×

  • google-news-icon.png



  • google-news-icon.png

  • Subscribe to Cheers & Gears

    Cheers and Gears Logo

    Since 2001 we've brought you real content and honest opinions, not AI-generated stuff with no feeling or opinions influenced by the manufacturers.

    Please consider subscribing. Subscriptions can be as little as $1.75 a month, and a paid subscription drops most ads.*
     

    You can view subscription options here.

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

  • Community Hive Community Hive

    Community Hive allows you to follow your favorite communities all in one place.

    Follow on Community Hive

  • Similar Content

  • Posts

    • David
      Random Thoughts Thread

      By David · Posted

      Interesting read, it does bring up a very important point, will the current CCS power walls work forward once everyone moves to NACS charge port? Does EV home-backup capability outmode the Tesla Powerwall? (greencarreports.com) Which Electric Cars Have Bidirectional Charging (V2L, V2G, V2H)? | Zecar | Resources | Lists
    • ccap41
      Airplanes

      By ccap41 · Posted

      I have a feeling a co-pilot in a 747 is not landing for the first time here.
    • David
      Random Thoughts Thread

      By David · Posted

      Very interesting as I am seeing more and more of these lists dominated by the Hyundai/Kia/Genesis product lines. Autotrader's Best New Cars of 2024 - Autotrader
    • A Horse With No Name
      Random Thoughts Thread

      By A Horse With No Name · Posted

      My latest quest is a possible upgrade of my turntable. Right now I run a Fluance RT 82.   I just upgraded my CD game with an Audiolab 6000 CDT.    I am enjoying a ton of Vinyl right now. Classical, some jazz albums almost free. older albums often sound quite good and can be picked up quite cheaply.       
    • David
      Random Thoughts Thread

      By David · Posted

      I am not aware of travel cases for internal drives. Usually you have the drive and once you have made sure you own static electricity is discharged on your body, open the computer and unplug the power cable and data cable to the HD. Then you unscrew the screws holding the drive in. Put the drive into an Anti-Static bag and then usually into a box that has foam padding on all sides to protect the drive and then tape it up to close it.  With both drives in their proper storage bags, you can then have both drives in between foam insulation for handling any dropping of the box, etc. Pack them in a box and tape shut, should then easily handle going through your carry on or checked in luggage. To ship a hard drive, you need to: Secure the hard drive in its original packaging or anti-static bag. If you don't have an anti-static bag, place the drive into a zipped freezer bag to prevent any moisture getting into the drive during transit. Sandwich the drive between foam or wrap it in bubble wrap to absorb any minor shocks. Put the hard drive in a padded shipping box. Close and seal the box. Label your package. Amazon.com : hard drive shipping box This is pretty much all you need.

  • Who's Online (See full list)

    • There are no registered users currently online

  • My Clubs

×
×
  • Create New...

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

Change privacy settings