The pioneers of the Scion brand, which Toyota created in the hopes of snagging a good portion of the youth market, are apparently on the choppong block. The Scion xB (pictured above) and the xD are reportedly going to get the axe.
The xB quickly became an iconic symbol helping to brand the new marque. Whenever you saw an xB, you simply said “I saw a Scion today”, which is pretty much every manufacturer’s main goal. It also helped that Toyota was among the first to introduce the box-on-wheels styling and was the first to make it cool. Or the first to make you want to scratch your own eyes out whenever you saw one. The xB’s styling was certainly polarizing when it was introduced back in 2004.
A few years later demand for cube-like styled cars started to dwindle. Honda recently killed off its boxy Element as a result, Kia tried a more shapely approach with the Soul and Nissan’s Cube became all but forgotten. In an effort to regain sales, Toyota redesigned the second generation xB with softer, more tame lines. This pretty much backfired as it very much upset xB loyalists who loved the sharp edged styling of their box, while it did absolutely nothing to entice naysayers at the same time.
The xD was an econobox that failed to catch on as well (even in our sub-compact loving market). Prospective buyers decided to opt for the Yaris and Corolla which are both much better known and thus much more likely to retain they’re value.
But don’t think that the Scion brand is dead in the water on the whole. The FR-S is expected to bring back former Celica and MR2 owners and Toyota hopes it will introduce some newcomers to the brand, while the innovative iQ will likely bite into a big chunck of Smart Fortwo sales as it’s more practical, more refined and just as good on gas. It seems Scion is still aiming at the youth market with these models, just taking a different approach.
Will you miss the xB and/or xD?
[Ward’s Auto]
