Hybrids – and particularly Toyota’s complicated Hybrid Synergy Drive – feature two distinct sets of drivetrain components that are each capable of powering the vehicle under certain circumstances. As such, they are more expensive to produce than typical internal combustion engine-powered vehicles. Add in an expensive battery pack, and the expected cost for a hybridized Scion shoots past the self-imposed $20,000 ceiling that Toyota has set on its entry-level marque.

So, if not hybrids (at least not in the near-term future), what innovative technology is Toyota considering for Scion? For starters, all-wheel drive, likely cribbed from Subaru, of which Toyota owns a 16.5-percent stake. Apparently, Toyota believes it can manage an all-wheel-drive Scion that doesn’t break the $20,000 barrier more easily than it can one with a hybrid powertrain. Where that falls into the Japanese automaker’s stated goal to produce ever more fuel efficient vehicles, we don’t yet know.

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According to Automotive News, Yoshi Inaba, president of Toyota Motor North America, says that’s all set to change in the near future as the youth-oriented Japanese brand draws up two new models that will be heavily influenced by American tastes. We certainly hope that doesn’t mean bigger and unnecessarily bloated like the second-generation xB.

A redesigned tC model will reportedly come first, followed by the Scionized version of the mini-me Toyota iQ. Inaba didn’t give any sort of timetable on new model launches and even said that the automaker hasn’t yet determined what new vehicles will come after what’s currently scheduled.

Whatever comes our way, it seems that we should expect Scion to continue marketing to a young audience. To that end, the company will continue to focus on innovative new technologies that will boost “connectivity,” though that could have a number of differing meanings. We’ll see what Toyota has in mind soon enough, as the redesigned tC is scheduled to go on sale later this year.

Yoshi Inaba

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Take a look at the current pickup truck market and you’ll see that the only currently available machine that even remotely fits into the compact role is the Ford Ranger, which hasn’t been updated in eons and sees its sales dwindle every single year (55,600 in 2009). This being the case, there may be room for a small urban pickup from Scion, though the automaker indicates it would need to be careful not to infringe on the class-leading Toyota Tacoma.

If Scion did indeed build a true compact pickup with an eye toward reasonable fuel efficiency, what would it look like? Perhaps an xB with a small bed? Or might it look something like the Hako concept from the 2008 New York Auto Show (perhaps in modified form)?

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“It’s a concept,” was the initial answer. Yeah, right.

Carter added, “When you come into sports cars, that’s the fun. That’s what gets your blood boiling. The reality of it is, there are pluses and minuses for both. It’s an exciting car, but when you get into sports cars and compare them with Corollas, Camrys and RAV4s, the volumes just aren’t there. So it becomes a debate, where can you best market low-volume? Is it better to market that as a Toyota product or a Scion product? And it could go either way.”

If it becomes a Scion when it comes here in early 2012, it would likely be the most expensive model in that lineup, probably well over $20,000. Given what Carter said about Corolla/Camry/RAV4 volume, though, I’d bet Toyota in the U.S. is leaning toward the Scion brand instead of the Toyota brand.

In the short-term, Carter says Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. plans 10 new models in the coming calendar year, both all-new models and replacements for existing models. The Sienna minivan will be all new save for the tires, with a big fuel economy story, he says. It makes its debut at the Los Angeles International Auto Show later this year. He says Toyota remains committed to the North American-only Scion brand, and will refresh its model lineup quickly.

Toyota plans to enter the battery electric vehicle market in 2012, in keeping up with Nissan, and plans to add a hydrogen fuel-cell model about 2015. Will it be a volume model, or more like Honda’s FCX Clarity?

Depends on infrastructure, Carter says.

As for the big issues Carter addressed at the outset:

* “When GM exited bankruptcy, their decision to no longer buy product from NUMMI (the joint-venture Pontiac Vibe/Toyota Corolla/Tacoma assembly plant in Freemont, California) left us with no alternatives for continuing our joint ventures. The plant is not financially feasible without a partner, so we announced our intention to stop sourcing product there at the end of our current fiscal year next March.” Tacoma production moves to the Tundra plant in San Antonio, Texas, and Corolla will be split between Canada and Japan, eventually shifting the portion from Japan to North America when possible.

* “Next is the floor mat recall. We issued a major consumer safety advisory urging owners to remove driver side floor mats on a number of our models to eliminate the potential for a loose or incompatible floor mat to pose a threat to our owners.” However, Toyota believes there is no problem with factory floor mats properly attached to original equipment fastener hooks. “The question of unintended acceleration involving Toyota vehicles has been thoroughly investigated by NHTSA’s engineering experts without any finding of defect other than an unsecured or incompatible driver’s floor mat. … In one example of (NHTSA’s) stringent testing, multiple signals were introduced into the electrical system to test the robustness of the electronics against failures due to interference.” NHTSA found no such interference, he says.

* President Akio Toyoda followed up his statement that he thinks Toyota is at “stage 4″ of the management book, “How the Mighty Fall,” described as “grasping for salvation,” by saying he thinks Toyota can move out of stage 4, “because it is blessed with the best dealers and employees in the world.” Carter added that “many people online expressed admiration for Akio’s honest assessment and his desire to change the company for the better.”

No question, Toyota is facing more scrutiny and criticism since it became the world’s largest automaker in the last couple of years. And Carter addressed Detroit journalists to try and rebuild some of the goodwill — real or perceived — that it had up to that point, thanks to revered management and production techniques and cars like the Prius.

I asked Carter about the current Toyota Tundra, the truck its maker hoped would start to challenge Ford F-150, Chevy Silverado and Dodge Ram with high volumes, until the pickup and then the entire market collapsed. Carter says that when Tacoma production moves to San Antonio, the plant will have the type of production flexibility for which Toyota is known. Toyota still holds out hope that its Tundra will become a major player in the full-size pickup market. Even if it doesn’t, the flexibility assures that the big, state-of-the-art multi-million-dollar production facility will be a Toyota-style success.

Toyota FT-86

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Last week, we gave you an update regarding Subaru’s progress with its half of the Toyobaru project, complete with a sketch-tastic rendering from the UK’s Autocar. Fast forward to today, and although we can’t be sure if this Nürburgring-circling, cobbled-together prototype is a Subaru effort or a Toyota joint, it appears to be a development of the FT-86 that we know is headed for production.

As shot here by our friends at KGP Photography, the little coupe is well disguised, but it looks like a Fuji Heavy project to us, as it shares some Subaru design hallmarks. Up front, the masked prototype takes on the basic shape of the WRX, with bold, bulging curves and a snub nose. There is no trademark Subaru hood scoop, but the big hood has a very aggressive appearance. Out back, the car’s rump is also Impreza hatch-like, with a massive rear wing disguised by some heavy camo. It isn’t at all clear that what’s seen here is in any way, shape or form production bodywork, but we wouldn’t be surprised to see the Scooby crew adopt a chunkier aesthetic than their compatriots at Toyota.

The basic layout of the vehicle also appears to favor motivation via the rear wheels, as the 2+2 cabin is pushed back over the rear axle. The Subaru will likely sport the same direct injection 2.0-liter boxer engine currently sitting under the hood of the Toyota concept. If the little boxer can indeed produce nearly 200 horsepower as has been rumored, we’re thinking it will be solid punch for the Subaru, as the Toyota FT-86 is nearly a foot shorter than an Impreza and the spy photos show what appears to be a very small form factor. Add turbocharging down the line and we suspect you’ve got a tuner’s delight capable of taking on the big boys.

Word on the street is that Subaru isn’t quite sold on the idea of the Toyota-designed rear-wheel drive platform, which may or may not be able to accommodate Subaru’s signature all-wheel drive setup. We’re not sure that theory makes much sense if the two are collaborating on concept versions of the vehicle, and it would be difficult to understand how Subaru could enter such an agreement without first knowing whether it could add its trademark drivetrain, but we’ve heard this word ourselves from Subie folks as well, so perhaps Toyota is throwing some of its weight around.

Check out the high-res gallery below and our spy shooter’s thoughts after the jump.

Gallery: Toyobaru Testing on the ‘Ring

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But with only three vehicles in the Scion range, the 6-year-old brand already is losing its freshness.

The solution, says Toyota’s new U.S. sales chief, is to expand the lineup so that there’s always something new and exciting.

“For the Scion business model, product freshness is key,” said Yoshimi Inaba, chairman and CEO of Toyota Motor Sales USA as well as president of Toyota Motor America, on a recent visit to Detroit. With its no-haggle pricing policy, Scion has few other levers to increase sales, which are down 60 percent this year, more than Toyota’s overall 38 percent drop.

“One of my jobs is to revive the Scion spirit in the United States,” said Inaba, who was the driving force behind the brand during his last stint in the nation. One likely addition to the Scion lineup is the iQ, a minicar that Toyota sells in Europe and Japan under the Toyota brand.

Scion exists only in the United States. Earlier this year, Toyota displayed a Scion-badged iQ in New York, but the company has not confirmed plans to market such a car in the United States.

Speculation is rife that Toyota might add a gas-electric hybrid car to the Scion lineup. But company spokesman Irv Miller said Toyota would have to consider the cost of fitting a hybrid powertrain into an inexpensive and already fuel-efficient car. Starting prices for Scion models range from $14,800 to $17,000, although buyers tend to spend more to customize their vehicles.

Toyota is now reviewing all of its vehicle lines in the United States, as well as its operations, after losing money in the region. As it assesses Scion, Toyota must decide whether it is content to sell cars to young people by offering inexpensive models, or whether the brand retains its original mandate, to attract young trendsetters who will dial up Toyota’s coolness factor. If the goal is to attract young, leading-edge buyers, then “you have to, like Inaba’s saying, keep everything fresh,” said Wesley Brown at Los Angeles-based consulting firm Iceology. “But keeping things fresh isn’t as easy as we all think on the outside that it should be,” he said.

It’s particularly tough in the auto industry “because of the gestation period, and the money and risk involved with a new product.” Scion hit the mark in 2003 when it rolled out the first xB, a boxy model from its Japanese lineup that didn’t resemble anything on American roads. But the xB’s success led Toyota to take the safe route when it came time to replace the vehicle.

Toyota produced a bigger, more conservative version of the xB. Brown says Toyota was right to produce that vehicle — but it should have marketed it under the Toyota brand, where it would have attracted more customers. Meanwhile, the space once occupied by the first xB is being filled by edgy new offerings such as the Nissan Cube and Kia Soul. Toyota has many models in its Japanese and European model ranges that could be turned into Scion vehicles at little cost, Brown said. In his view, the hatchback version of the Yaris should have gone into the Scion lineup, with only the staid sedan going to the Toyota range where people expect something solidly

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No, a full blown press conference is more likely reserved for an all-new model. But which one?

Well, current Scion VP Jack Hollis told Automotive News last month, “Within the next two years, we will have a replacement tC” coupe.

The time frame seems a little long, but we went digging anyways. The U.S. Patent and Trademark website makes things easy, and when you’re looking for the next-generation tC it doesn’t take much imagination to figure out where Scion might be going with the naming convention.

Sure enough, we found a Toyota trademark for the name “tD”. Does it guarantee that’s the name? Nope. Does it sound considerably more marketable than tB? Yep.

The only question left now is what kind of coupe it’ll be. Let’s hope it takes after the Fuse, and not the Hako.

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Unfortunately, Scion’s been resting its laurels on its lone coupe for some time, and the current model will remain in production until the redesign arrives in 2011. That’s an achingly long time in the automotive world, particularly considering the three- to four-year model cycle most automakers adhere to. And with rumors circulating that the Toyota/Subaru rear-wheel-drive coupe has been shelved, we’re a bit skeptical that a performance model is still in the near-term cards.

So what’s Scion considering? Hollis told Automotive News, “We think there is room for a bigger sedan and smaller vehicles. We think there is even the possibility for a truck-based vehicle with an open bed.” The idea of bringing the Toyota iQ to the States has been floated before, as well as a production version of the Toyota A-Bat. If Scion really wanted to shake things up, it could produce a compact version of the Hako Coupe with an open bed (rendered poorly above) to kill two (or three) birds with one stone.

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AllAboutPrius thinks the new hybrid will be getting some companions, but not necessarily in the Toyota showroom. For sure, Lexus is plotting a new stand-alone hybrid–and it could be that the Lexus HS 250h coming to January’s Detroit show will actually be a four-door derived from the new Prius. There’s also a new coupe on the front burner, to take on Honda’s CR-Z hybrid–and wouldn’t it be perfect it if was the replacement for the aging Scion tC?

There’s more meat on the 2010 Prius’ bones, too, according to AllAboutPrius.com. The new car has a more upscale, conservative interior than the second-generation car–which could make it easier to transform into a Lexus. And the 2010 Prius is expected to grow a bit, too, so that rear-seat legroom is improved.

The final word on the new Prius comes as Toyota opens the 2009 Detroit Auto Show–or maybe before that, if the embargo dam breaks as has become the custom. We’ll be here to fill you in as soon as more Prius pics and information surface. In the meantime, check out ABP’s writeup on the Prius and see more pics over at our 2010 Toyota Prius page.

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It looks like that powerplant will be around 2.0L in size and put out around 200 horsepower. Based on an all-new RWD platform, the affordable coupe should show up Stateside by the end of 2010, or possibly early 2011. That new tC will probably be joined by a version of the iQ minicar in Scion dealerships as well, also according to Carscoop‘s Toyota insiders. A reborn, rebadged Celica and a Smart-fighter could be a compelling pair for Toyota’s youth brand. As always, we’ll keep you posted.

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