history
Taking into consideration the fact that Toyota is such a large car manufacturer (the largest by latest numbers), it was bound to give birth to a whole new company to cover the huge American market. The year that happened was 2002 and the company's name was Scion. That would translate into “descendant of” derived from an old French word of Germanic origin.
Basically, what Toyota tried to do with the Scion was to appeal to younger customers and so Scion took on a more playful and direct approach to marketing its products. at the New York Auto show in 2002, the first two concepts of the Scion were introduced as the bbX (which later became the xB) and the ccX (known as tC later on).
Two more models appeared in 2004, the xA and Xb and in 2005 the tC came on the general market. The other model from the Scion line-up is the xD, launched in 2007, a subcompact which is also being sold in Japan as the Toyota ist.
Aunique feature to the Scion brand is the “Pure Price” feature which they offer customers. What that basically translates to is the real price of the car being given right from the start, including insurance and finance. Also, the trim packages in Scions are very versatile and the company boasts never before seen levels of customization.
Scion's next attempt to grab the attention of car buyers was to release limited edition vehicles with a series of limited edition accessories in limited quantities. These cars screamed for attention in more ways than one, with very loud paint jobs and bold designs.
And with a large number of accessories (whether being offered by the producer or other aftermarket dealers), starting from subwoofers, decals, canvas roofs and even a supercharger on some models, it's no wonder people rushed at the dealerships.
All that marketing seems to have paid off because sales for the xA and the XB went well and the tC also managed to make a good impression with customers. This type of aggressive marketing ensures that the average age for a Scion buyer is significantly lower than the one of a Toyota buyer (39 years for Scion for Toyota's 59).
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