Car and Driver says FRS should be Celica and Scion should die

[Autoguide.com]

Car and Driver recently posted an editorial column by technical editor Aaron Robinson. The piece will run in the August 2012 issue of the magazine and calls for the death of Scion. His main criticisms of the brand come from the fact that it has no history and that it was created purely as an attempt to cater to younger car shoppers.

"Scion is a brand conceived in a focus group, born in a fluorescent-lit marketing department, and wet-nursed by copious spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations."

The FR-S has been brought into North America to boost sales volumes but according to the author, the car should have been badged as a Celica which would make it appeal more to Toyota fans, apparently.

He cites the fact that sales volumes have been in a major decline; first quarter sales for 2012 for the entire brand was 15,171 while the Honda Fit sold 12,625. He argues that with no replacements planned for the soon to be dead XD and XB, the brand will wither.

If Toyota wants to keep the brand alive, C and D advises making the Corolla and Yaris into Scion models. This would make Scion into the division that handles all of Toyota's low-cost cars. This could maybe lake up for the lack of heritage or backstory the brand has to deal with.

While the FR-S/GT-86 doesn't have the name heritage of the Celica it does have the reference among enthusiasts for a car that has been development and concept forms for several years with the entire performance community watching.

What do you think? Bring over the Yaris? Axe the whole division?

The story is at Car and Driver

[frythan]

I think the FR-S should have been the new Celica, only if Subaru didn't contribute to the build. Toyota made the Celica on their own, that's the way it should be. They're also looking to be more eco-friendly and family friendly, so Scion has turned into purely the sport division of Toyota. Also, the fact that the tC's engine doesn't put out really a whole lot for its size shows that Toyota isn't going to have a really good sports car on their own anymore. 180hp for a 1.8 liter is really, really good. The FR-S is doing good with 200hp in a 2.0 liter. The tC...180hp with a 2.5 liter. And that's the newest model. It seems to me more of a commuter sports car with a little bit of power. Kind of like the most recent MR-2 models or the GT model Celica. ****, if the just took the back seats out of the FR-S and instead of partnering with Subaru, threw an inline 6 in there, could have been the new Supra even!