Looking to rebuild its once formidable image among younger buyers, Scion is planning to roll out an assortment of new models over the next few years, and we’ll be getting a sense of what’s to come at next month’s Los Angeles Motor Show.
What exactly it has in store, Scion isn’t saying, but it’s giving a bit of a hint with two closely cropped teaser images of what apparently will be called the new iM Concept car.
“The iM Concept car reflects the evolution of Scion as the needs and desires of its youthful customers also evolve,” says a terse statement from Scion.
Scion built its early reputation by focusing on quirky products targeting non-traditional market niches, such as the boxy xB. But recent offerings – including the latest remake of the xB – have frequently missed the mark and Scion’s sales and image have suffered.
As TheDetroitBureau.com recently reported, the xB is one of several models expected to go away, while the Japanese brand will get several new products, possibly including a version of the Auris hatchback sold in Europe and other parts of the world under the Toyota badge.
Scion could use the shake-up. Only a few years back considered among the hottest brands in the market, Scion has lost significant momentum in recent years and was one of only a handful of brands to see sales slide during the first half of 2014.
The Toyota brand has spent a good year looking at its alternative, going so far as to consider the possibility of abandoning its original concept of targeting young opinion leaders and moving up-market as a sort of near-luxury brand just below Lexus. But it is expected to maintain its original mission as the new models debut.
The iM Concept could be followed up with a production model, if past is prologue for the brand. And it is just one of a number of new two-letter designations Scion has trademarked, a list also including iA, iD, tD, tK, tR, tS and tZ. That does not mean they will all eventually be used for concept or production models.
(Honda HR-V making U.S. debut at L.A. Auto Show. For more, Click Here.)
But Scion is all but certain to expand the range of offerings it will deliver to dealers. With the addition of the sporty FR-S model, it abandoned its original strategy of selling no more than three distinct product lines at any one time.
(Click Here for details about Jaguar Land Rover’s first overseas plant…in China, of course.)
As TheDetroitBureau.com previously reported, in a bid to keep Scion from fading to black, apparently, all of the old rules are now being rewritten.
(To see more about the recall of 7.8 million vehicles using Takata airbags, Click Here.)
The iM Concept model will make its official debut at the LA Auto Show on Nov. 19.
