Scion Canada
Though Toyota's Scion division is about to begin a further migration east from its original California base into the rest of the United States, there are still no plans to bring the brand into Canada.
Management at Toyota Canada Inc. decided two years ago when Scion was announced as a way of attracting younger, hipper buyers to the stodgy Toyota fold that they didn't think it would work here and they don't seem to have changed their minds.
As it happens, Scion isn't exactly working out the way it was supposed to in the U.S. either, though it is selling a decent number of cars and expects to sell a whole bunch more as it increases its market reach across the continent.
The problem is that the wrong people seem to be buying Scion xA and xB, which are wedge- and box-shaped, respectively.
Toyota is widely regarded by teenagers and 20-somethings as THE most boring brand in the universe, so the idea of buying a Corolla or a Matrix or -- shudder -- a Camry is anathema to them. The idea was that by offering weird-looking looking cars and selling them under an assumed name was supposed to trick these young folks into reconsidering. Like they wouldn't notice.
This is not a minor problem for Toyota, since their buyer base in North America is getting older all the time and they're worried that their sales will collapse when the Baby Boomers who brought them to their current heights stop buying cars.
To some extent this is happening with younger buyers, but a lot of the Scion units are going to older people who see them for what they also are -- cheaper Toyotas.
On average, Toyota's American office reports, the Scion buyers' average age is in the low-30s and most of them haven't bought Toyotas before.
About half of the target market buyers say they're aware of Scion, Toyota is glad to report, but few of them are buying it.
It seems Scion is gaining traction with Asian and Hispanic 30-somethings who wouldn't shop Toyota before, which is good for Toyota. Unfortunately, nearly all of them plan to avoid Toyota when they buy their next car and go to a German import.
Toyota had wanted to do better with Scion in California since it is the part of the U.S. that is the most accepting of imports, particularly from Japan. It's not clear what's going to happen when Scion rolls out into the heartland where imports aren't so well accepted.