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Doesn't saturn have no-haggle pricing?That should answer your question
So now that Scion's burning up the sales charts, every automaker wants to start sellinng cars specifically targeted to te "youth" market.But I think there's one thing they're forgetting--not only does Scion have cool cars, but they have their own sales channel with low-pressure sales and no-haggle pricing.
If Scions were simply badged as Toyotas and sold the same way, would they be as successful? If Nissan brings over cars like the Cube but sells them through normal Nissan dealerships, would they meet with the same success?
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Btw, Nissan is crazy if they don't bring over the Cube, haggle or no-haggle pricing!
Doesn't saturn have no-haggle pricing?That should answer your question
The no-haggle thing means zero to people like me who actually enjoy the negotiating part of a car purchase.
Scion sells cars because they are cheap and different looking, not to mention trendy. I'm sure that some people like the no-haggle pricing, but I don't think it is the main reason why they are doing as well as they are.If Nissan can bring over a car that looks cool and has features that the kids want, for $15k or less, then it will sell.
Quote, originally posted by Samson » The no-haggle thing means zero to people like me who actually enjoy the negotiating part of a car purchase. FWIW, I suspect you are in the minority.
I think no-haggle pricing means something to some people, especially young and inexperienced car buyers. My ex was swayed to a Saturn (don't worry, we're through
I would say it almost entirely has to do with the cars--more specifically, the marketing of the cars
I think its funny that, Scion is being marketed to the youth crowd, but all I've ever seen in them is older people(senior citizens). I've seen few people under 25(appearance wise) driving a Scion.
Quote, originally posted by MoochsMalibu » I think its funny that, Scion is being marketed to the youth crowd, but all I've ever seen in them is older people(senior citizens). I've seen few people under 25(appearance wise) driving a Scion. Merely your senior citizens trying to be youthful yet doing it for WAY less than Porsche/Ferrari's prices.
I'm all for standards and consistency.If MSRP prices were reasonable and fair, I would pay them everytime.
I don't like going to VONs and arguing over the price of a tube of toothpaste. And while cars ARE expensive, they are not assets or worth the hassle of negotiating over for a full day or more...I want one car - one price. That way car dealership selection won't be based purely on "cheap" sales price, but rather on service and convenience.
The whole distribution system for automobiles is archaic and contrived. It's a time wasting redundandcy which we are all better off without.
My roommate convinced his parents to buy a tC. So much for lowering the average buyer's age.
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Quote, originally posted by b0mbrman » I would say it almost entirely has to do with the cars--more specifically, the marketing of the cars BINGO. I think the original poster above also hit it in the head when they asked if Scion's cars would've been as successful if sold as 'Yotas. Simply put, no (at least not IMO).
Toyota's marketing of the Scion is disgustingly brilliant. Kids don't want a Toyota, I mean come on. Most parents don't want a Toyota. Toyota's are known around the world as applicanes. Great, reliable vehicles with decent gas mileage that you could drive off the Grand Canyon and then take on a road trip to Florida from the bottom.
Scion is young, sporty, quirky, lots of 'cool' features, mods done at the factory or dealership that are still covered on the car's basic warranty, great designs, all come in manual, most come with steelies ready for upgrading to nicer, lighter wheels, etc.
If I were in the market for one, I would most certainly buy a Scion of some sort. The hardest part for me has been choosing which to buy!
Peace, J
Quote » Kids don't want a Toyota, I mean come on. Most parents don't want a Toyota. Toyota's are known around the world as applicanes. Great, reliable vehicles with decent gas mileage that you could drive off the Grand Canyon and then take on a road trip to Florida from the bottom. Are you kidding?
Toyota Corolla S/XRS, Camry S, Matrix, Tacoma, RAV4, etc..I see pleny of youngsters driving Toyotas, pretty frequently.
Would SCION do as well under the Toyota badge?
Maybe not. But it's not because the "Toyota" name is undesireable - in fact, that's a part of the success. Just like with Lexus, you have "Toyota" backing the products."SCION" is simply a good marketing device, which puts the spotlight on a selected product set. So as a sales channel, it's highly effective.
But I don't think for a minute that Toyota wouldn't have the same success without the "SCION" name, using a similar device. In other words, if they wanted to, they could.
Quote, originally posted by MoochsMalibu » I think its funny that, Scion is being marketed to the youth crowd, but all I've ever seen in them is older people(senior citizens). I've seen few people under 25(appearance wise) driving a Scion. I think older folks may be buying them because of the ride height and seating position.
I think it has a lot more to do with price and options. The Scion Tc is 16,000, already including most of the options that start to push its competitors (Mazda3, for example) sky high in price. That is just a fantastic price. Some of that is haggle-room being eliminated, but even if you haggled for it, it'd still be a pretty insane value IMHO.
Quote, originally posted by Triumph » My roommate convinced his parents to buy a tC. So much for lowering the average buyer's age.
I had a friend in college begging his parentsnot to buy a tC. He hated the thing but his parents loved it. Don't know if they got it or not, haven't seen him since last quarter.
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Quote, originally posted by PacerX » I think older folks may be buying them because of the ride height and seating position. I was figuring b/c of people like my grandmother who bought a year old carolla a few years ago, they want cheap, new, reliable transportation.
I also had a Drafting teacher in highschool who bought a Scion Xb when they were released. He was originally looking to buy a Porsche 993 but couldn't find one for around $30,000. He wanted a companion to his slant nose Porsche. He got the Scion with pretty much all the accesories.BTW He is like 55 years old.
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Quote, originally posted by sar4497 » FWIW, I suspect you are in the minority. I think no-haggle pricing means something to some people, especially young and inexperienced car buyers. My ex was swayed to a Saturn (don't worry, we're through
Perhaps he is, regarding "enjoying" the process, but if you don't want to haggle just pay the sticker price. Right? Wrong. Why leave money on the table?So, anyway, to answer the original question. It is the cars.
I think a big part of their success is the fact that people know its association with Toyota. Kids that want one, want one cause they think they're cool. Meanwhile, parents (the buyer) will gladly buy one for their kid because they know it's a Toyota and therefore can safely assume it's reliable, has high resale value, won't get kids killed due to excessive power, practical, and probably has low insurance rates. The older crowd that buy Scions will do so because of all of the above, less the cool factor.
Quote, originally posted by Phreestyle » Are you kidding?
Toyota Corolla S/XRS, Camry S, Matrix, Tacoma, RAV4, etc..I see pleny of youngsters driving Toyotas, pretty frequently.
I was just reading about Scion in some business magazine (Time, Businessweek, some such). They pointed out how the median age of Toyota customers has been on a steady climb over the last decade or more; they bluntly said Toyota has become the Japanese Buick.
So now the Scion brand was created, starting with what were essentially two rebodied Corollas. But now Toyota decided to try new marketing ploys. One head honcho was quoted along the lines of, "we're directly targeting the youth market but we're doing it in a way so they don't realize we're directly targeting them" But what I want to know--and what the article didn't reveal--was if the ploy is working.
Does anybody have reports on the median age of a Scion buyer?
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Quote, originally posted by TurboMinivan » I was just reading about Scion in some business magazine (Time, Businessweek, some such). They pointed out how the median age of Toyota customers has been on a steady climb over the last decade or more; they bluntly said Toyota has become the Japanese Buick.
So now the Scion brand was created, starting with what were essentially two rebodied Corollas. But now Toyota decided to try new marketing ploys. One head honcho was quoted along the lines of, "we're directly targeting the youth market but we're doing it in a way so they don't realize we're directly targeting them" But what I want to know--and what the article didn't reveal--was if the ploy is working.
Does anybody have reports on the median age of a Scion buyer?
Actually both the xA abd xB are based on the Echo platform.
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-Leo
Spike- Team My Little Pony
Quote, originally posted by TurboMinivan » I was just reading about Scion in some business magazine (Time, Businessweek, some such). They pointed out how the median age of Toyota customers has been on a steady climb over the last decade or more; they bluntly said Toyota has become the Japanese Buick.
So now the Scion brand was created, starting with what were essentially two rebodied Corollas. But now Toyota decided to try new marketing ploys. One head honcho was quoted along the lines of, "we're directly targeting the youth market but we're doing it in a way so they don't realize we're directly targeting them" But what I want to know--and what the article didn't reveal--was if the ploy is working.
Does anybody have reports on the median age of a Scion buyer?
It was Businessweek and you read the same thing I did (hence my original post).
Personally I don't like the no haggle pricing, I would like to hustle to get my vehicles.
Quote, originally posted by TurboMinivan » So now the Scion brand was created, starting with what were essentially two rebodied Corollas. But now Toyota decided to try new marketing ploys. One head honcho was quoted along the lines of, "we're directly targeting the youth market but we're doing it in a way so they don't realize we're directly targeting them" But what I want to know--and what the article didn't reveal--was if the ploy is working. The Scion xA and xB are more similar to the Toyota Echo than to anything else. They were actually their own cars in Japan before being brought to the US.
I think Scion's marketing is stupid and contrived. I'm right in their target age group. The cars sell themselves and I don't need to be bombarded with skateboards and underground hip-hop to buy them. Personally, I find their point of view that young people need to be sold a "lifestyle" rather than a good product insulting. Practical things like low price, good mpg, reliability and lots of room are great selling points for these cars.
Oddly enough my mother owns a Scion xB. It's an excellent car and has had no problems whatsoever. Even with the dumb marketing, I would consider one. They're a good value for a daily driver.
-Andrew
Honestly, I don't think the Toyota brand had an old image (like Buick) yet, just a dull one, largely a result of their products. Toyota's vehicles are a lot like where GM used to be, except with the saving grace of excellent reliability: vehicles that make sense, and you woudn't turn down, but not vehicles that you aspire to. They're not inspiring to drive, nor do they have head turning (or even handsome) styling. The practicality, resale value, and reliability may be enough to sway older buyers (especially those with firsthand experience of the appallingly built domestics of decades ago), but younger buyers require something notable to get them to buy a vehicle. Perhaps styling, perhaps driving enjoyment, perhaps a hipster/euro/hi-tech/whatever image.Toyota also had some misfires in the youth vehicle department. I recall how the Echo and MR2 were supposed to appeal to the youth market, but both failed to hit that demographic. The MR2 was too expensive and impractical (major concessions being required to make that one's only car), and the Echo was too dorkily styled and cheap feeling. Even the super-low budget Korean cars easily had better styling.
The Scion vehicles on the other hand, give the appearance of (relative) high quality and unique styling at an affordable price. All are quite important, as buyers these days expect more and more standard features even on cheap vehicles (why it's been a bad idea for years now to buy a vehicle without AC if you're worried at all about resale value). Not to mention nobody wants a weirdly ugly vehicle (Aztek and Echo). The xA and xB are certainly unusual, but they look unique, and have that JDM look that kids these days love
I say neither; I think it's the relative ease of customization.
Scion's sucess is due to the vehicles, and due to the lesson Toyota learned back around 2000 with the Gen Y (or something) marketing strategy centered around the Celica, Matrix, & Echo. That strategy failed miserably.... so along came the Scion idea, using Echo-platform vehicles (xA & xB) then added the tC
The Scions sell because they're nice cars that fill a niche. And they're Toyota reliable without being Toyota Dull-as-dishwater.The Marketing is frankly terrible - and to somebody like me who's supposedly in the "target market" - I consider the marketing to be a big turn-off. I don't want to be associated with the yobs in those commercials where the Xa's are painted bright orange and have the worst kind of "sport compact" modifications that don't help performance at all. I don't want to be patronized either, and Scion's awfully good at that.
I also see many older folks in Xa's and Xb's, so it doesn't seem like the marketing is really working. They sure spend alot on the campaign though.
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