Back in 2003 when I first saw these vehicles on the road, man I thought they looked cool. Funky colors, interesting shape… much like a postal truck, but I could get over that. This vehicle looked like I could slap my surf borad on top and haul my bikini clad bootie to the beach for some knarly waves.
This vehicle was made by Toyota to be marketed to Generation Y buyers. I wonder what generation I am. Let me quickly google that… I am 34. That puts me in generation X, anyone born in 1965 - 1985. Oh, well. I still like the Scion. I have always been a late bloomer.
Anyway back to the Scion… Wikipedia tells us that:
Scion grew from Toyota Project Genesis, a failed effort to bring younger buyers to the Toyota marque in the United States. Scion is Toyota’s entry-level brand, slotting below Toyota in the lineup. Currently, Toyota markets Scion-branded vehicles in the United States, Guam, and Puerto Rico.
History
Scion was unveiled at the New York Auto Show on March 27, 2002 with the more production-ready bbX concept, based on the Toyota bB, and the more conceptual ccX 3-door coupe. The 2004 xA and xB were unveiled at the Greater Los Angeles Auto Show on January 2, 2003. They were available only in 105 Toyota dealerships in California at their initial launch on June 6, 2003. The subsequent rollout of the brand to the South, the Southeast, and the East Coast occurred in February 2004. Scion vehicles were available nationwide in June 2004, coinciding with the release of the 2005 tC. On December 16, 2006, Scion unveiled the next-generation xB, based on the t2B concept, and the new xD, successor of the xA, at an invitation-only, no-camera event in Miami. Both cars were then publicly unveiled on February 8th, 2007 at the 2007 Chicago Auto Show.
Lineup
Scion currently has two models: tC, a 2-door liftback based on the European-marketed Toyota Avensis that was introduced in 2004, and the second-generation xB, a 5-door box-shaped compact wagon introduced in 2007. The xD, a 5-door subcompact hatchback, will be released in Summer 2007 and will replace the Scion xA, which is no longer in production but may be found on dealership lots.
Here is a hilarious article on the Scion I found on caranddriver.com as they were testing the new 2008 xD.
When you think Scion, you think “cool,” right? (Okay, maybe you think something along the lines of “brain-dead teenagers driving ridiculous-looking cars,” but just play along.) “Cool” easily explains the funky-chic, breadbox-shaped xB’s sales success, as thousands and thousands of people rampaged through Scion dealership kiosks to put one of the trendy cubes in their driveway—some 60,000 last year, in fact.
“Cool” also explains why the xB outsold the smaller Scion xA by a margin of nearly two to one last year. The xA was seriously dorky, drove every bit like the cheap econocar it was and, let’s face it, wasn’t much for the eyes—it looked like a melted stack of pancakes. It was so not cool. For 2008, though, Scion has sent the xA off to the great big rave in the sky and replaced it with the all-new xD.
With the new car comes a new personality. The xD is way more fun and, yes, far more cool than the xA. Whereas the older car needed a bunch of bolt-ons to look decent, the xD, which shares more than a passing resemblance to the equally new, second-generation xB, wears sheetmetal that’s handsome from the git-go….
Looks like I fell for the cool factor hook, line and sinker….
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