AUTOSHOWScion chief dismisses talk brands gone stale
By James B. Kelleher
DETROIT, Jan 13 (Reuters) - The head of Toyota Motor Corp’s
(7203.T: Quote, Profile, Research) Scion unit dismissed criticism on Sunday that the
unconventional, youth-oriented brand has lost the quirky design
edge that made it a niche hit.
Jack Hollis in an interview with Reuters at the North
American International Auto Show said Scion’s second generation
of vehicles — including a bigger, more powerful version of its
boxy xB model — reflected feedback from current owners and
would be well received by the company’s targeted 18- to
34-year-old buyer who has never purchased a Toyota.
“Quirky is in the eye of the beholder,” Hollis said of the
design criticism emanating from some members of the press.
“Our owners told us the only thing (the xB) was missing was
a bigger engine. … We gave exactly to the Scion community
what the Scion community was telling us they wanted.”
Hollis’ defense of his brand’s styling came amid growing
criticism that Scion had lost the design cache that had been
its trademark and morphed into a safer, less-interesting brand
– a criticism often made of its parent.
“There’s a risk of (Scion) becoming too big and too
mainstream,” Michelle Krebs, a senior editor at Edmunds’
AutoObserver.com, told Reuters. “And I think they’ve started to
move in that direction with their design.
“I teach at a design school and one of my students said
their cars had become too ‘Camry-fied.’”
Jean Jennings, the editor in chief of Automobile Magazine,
agreed, saying Scions had “totally lost their edge.” Continued…
