Scion xB Release Series 7.0: Purple people eater

Scion xB Release Series 7.0 (courtesy: toyota)

Toyota has just announced today that this week's Los Angeles Auto Show will see the debut of the Scion xB Release Series 7.0. You can view a full gallery of images of the xB RS 7.0 in this slideshow.

According to the press release, special goodies for the limited production model include:

• Four-piece DAMD body kit including front and rear lower lips along with side skirts
• Exclusive paint in a color named Murasaki, which means “purple” in Japanese.
• TRD (Toyota Racing Development) sport muffler that exits out the center of DAMD rear lip
• TRD lowering springs that bring the ride height down over an inch
• A color-keyed rear spoiler will be available as an option.
• The interior features exclusive black fabric seats with color-tuned highlights that complement the car’s exterior.
• The sides of the driver and front passenger lower seat cushions are embroidered with the “RS” logo.
• Leather-wrapped RAZO GT Formula Spec shift knob.
  

Only 2,000 units of the xB RS 7.0 will be built, with a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $18,320 with a manual transmission and $19,270 with an automatic transmission. Tack on $670 for delivery, processing and handling. The funky, color-matched rear spoiler will be available to xB RS 7.0 owners and carries a suggested retail price of $320, not including installation.

My favorite xB release series remains the xB Release Series 1.0 with its Hot Lava Orange paint. The current bodystyle of the xB is just too big and droopy for my taste, but I do like the idea of this purple monster and I look forward to checking it out in a couple of days. Look for this special xB in showrooms beginning in December.

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Scion future cars and product plans: What is ahead for the brand?

Scion gets ready to raise its iQ (source: toyota)

Scion started out in the States like a bat out of hell. It had unique, funky products and an unusual mono-spec model arrangement that allowed customers to customize their rides at the dealership (at a tremendous profit for the retailer of course).

View a gallery of Scions in this slideshow.

Since Scion's launch, its numbers have stumbled. So what happened to Toyota's youth brand? Firstly, I blame the flabby second generation xB. When Scion started off, its leaders crowed that there would never be any repeats and that the brand would continue to redefine itself. Well, that didn't exactly happen with the xB, did it? If anything, the second generation xB became a joke, a taut design that had eaten too many chips and sucked down a lot of soda. The xB should have become the Hako Coupe or at least the Toyota bB.

The Scion tC coupe was a great entry when it arrived, the problem is, it just kind of hung around the dealership and has grown stale as time has marched on.

The scruffy Scion xD is actually my favorite current model. The xD has some personality in its looks and was a nice upgrade over the xA.

Enough about the present, what is Scion going to turn around its fortunes?

For one, Scion is going to take on the smart fortwo with the iQ. This has not been made official, but it is all but assured that the iQ will be a 2011 Scion model. The small iQ has several advantages over the smart, firstly it has a transmission that is more suited to Americans who have been caught off guard by the fortwo's semi-automated unit. The iQ will also benefit from an extensive dealer network and Toyota's reputation for quality. The iQ can also cart along 3 adults and one child, thanks to its efficient use of space, that bests the smart by 1.5 passengers. The downsides are that the smart does offer a convertible and interchangeable plastic panels which make for chic styling options.

The tC finally gets its due for the 2011 model year as a replacement arrives. Some speculation had it that the tC could go RWD and might be the Toyobaru sports car discussed below. However, it is my belief that the tC will stay FWD while the Toyobaru is added as a complimentary model later on. Either way the next tC will hopefully make a styling statement.

The xB will likely see limited edition models, but little else in the way of changes. The same goes for the xD as well.

In the way of other projects, the Scion could get the joint Toyota/Subaru sports car or a version of the Toyota A-BAT pickup concept.

Source: Information for this report comes from previous reports by this author and information from Automotive News.

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Scion announces pricing for xD Release Series 2.0

xD Release Series 2.0

Scion announced that its final limited-production vehicle for 2009, the xD Release Series 2.0 (xD RS 2.0), will be available at dealer showrooms later this month. The 2009 xD Release Series 2.0 comes exclusively in Electric Wasabi green exterior paint and is also distinguished with unique interior modifications. The xD features a touch screen Pioneer Audio Visual Navigation (AVN) head unit with flash memory, voice recognition, and Bluetooth. For media player flexibility, the AVN unit comes with USB, SD card, and iPod connectivity. The Pioneer AVN head unit is also satellite radio, rear view camera and HD Radio ready and will play iPod videos when the parking brake is engaged. In addition, users can select from over 32,000 colors to customize the 5.8-inch high-resolution WVGA LCD touch-panel display. The driver can plan the perfect roadtrip at home by downloading the freeware application AVIC Feeds to a computer, making a personalized destination directory and then transferring the data to the headunit using SD card or USB memory device.

Dora won't need her pal Map with this Pioneer unit installed

Electric Wasabi accents the xD’s interior with four-in-one interior lights, and “Release Series 2.0” door sills illuminated with white back lighting. Silver accented seat fabric and individually numbered badging add to the vehicle’s uniqueness.

Release Series wheel covers also distinguish this limited production xD. A color-keyed rear spoiler will be available as an option.

You either dig the Electric Wasabi paint job or you despise it

Scion will only build 1,600 units of the xD RS 2.0. The xD RS 2.0 model will carry a manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of $1,270 over the base price of the xD. The base MSRP for the standard xD with a manual transmission is $14,650, while the standard xD with an automatic transmission model carries a MSRP of $15,450. The available Electric Wasabi spoiler has a MSRP of $285, not including installation.

The delivery, processing and handling (DPH) fee for all Scion models is $670 and is not included in the MSRP. DPH fee for vehicles distributed by Southeast Toyota (SET) and Gulf States Toyota (GST) may vary.

For more info: Visit Scion online.

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Scion Broadband

Part of Scion's "secret sauce" has been its focus on reaching out to its desired demographic in new and different ways. One such component is Scion Broadband AKA Scion bB. After receiving a press release about "Hot Guests And Fresh New Music Stations," I clicked on over to the site to check it out. My first visit was cut short when Scion bB killed my browser and all of its tabs, but I returned with Firefox and things went smoother.

I found the site to be a bit jumbled and not all that clear to navigate, but I suppose that is partly intentional. You can judge for yourself by clicking here. Does Scion's urban marketing work? I'm a bit dubious about that. It's a well known fact that Scion's ideal customer doesn't like to be marketed to and the second that they sniff out your true in intentions, they may run for the exit. I've always felt that Scion's strongest points included its value pricing and extensive customization. Certainly the xB has been the brand's standard bearer, although the 2.0 version became bloated and more commercialized than it should have.

At the end of the day, Scion wants to attract car buyers, just like everybody else. I'm just not sure that having a couple of DJs on staff is really going to cut through the clutter.

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No Scion of Mine. Can Toyota Fix Its Microbrand?

It started off so fabulously. Toyota had cracked the code of the young buyer and sparked a revolution in the auto industry. Scion was a brand that was on every marketers lips and then, somehow, Toyota lost its way. The once revolutionary products were being replaced by models run through the copier machine at 120% enlargement. Quirky JDM products were turned into fat, coddling, focus group darlings. Sales began to slip. I've seen both young families and older drivers piloting the new xB around but very few of the young hipsters I used to see behind the wheel of the first generation model. Now Toyota is trying to figure out where it all went wrong while outside experts begin to second-guess if Scion was a smart move in the first place.

One of the first tenants of the Scion brand was the mantra "No Repeats." Outgoing models would be replaced by funky new vehicles that looked nothing like their predecessors. However, Toyota just couldn't do it. The xB was simply too big of a hit to just let it slip away. The xB became bigger, more powerful and in the same stroke of the paintbrush it also became a sellout, a poser. Kind of like the 23 year old going back to his high school's homecoming game and trying to look cool. The xB should have become something like the Hako Coupe Concept: a design that makes you say "I hate you, I hate you...I LOVE YOU." If Scion would have had the nuts to bring out something like the Hako, well that would have been a big old middle finger aimed right at convention. Scion could have proudly said, "Yeah, see...We meant it! Just look at this thing!" Maybe sales wouldn't have been so grand, but is Scion really about volume or is it about attracting youth that can eventually be channel up to Toyota and hopefully Lexus? I think the Hako would have gotten "much respect" whether or not it actually was a big hit. The xD is an improvement over the xA, at least in my opinion, and a step in the right direction. However, even with the xD, sales to older buyers has worried Scion enough that Toyota is bringing the five door Yaris in to lure those "old folks" away. The tC has been on the market too long, with little to show for itself other than a few special editions. The tC is a fine little car to take to work, but offers little excitement or way out wackiness: it's just a better Paseo.

This Free Press article discusses the possibility that Scion might add two new small and inexpensive models. I haven't heard much about any future Scion models other than a tC replacement that may use the Fuse Concept as inspiration. I think that Scion should be a portal into the Japanese domestic market (JDM). Young buyers, especially the 17-34 year-olds that Scion covets, know all about the cars in Japan that they can't have. These buyers can also spot a fake when they see one. If you truly want to bring Scion back to life, you've got to give these folks something funky, something that makes their elders shake their head in disgust.

How long Scion will get to right its ship is anyone's guess. We're just into the second generation and I'm sure that we'll get a third go-round before Toyota would consider euthanizing the brand. There is plenty of time and plenty of funk in the Toyota/Daihatsu lineup to revitalize Scion. Whether or not Scion's handlers have the cojones to carry out the directive is another matter entirely.

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