Toyota looks to expand Scion brand

NEW YORK — The head of Toyota’s youth-oriented Scion division said today the company may double its product lineup, adding as many as three new vehicles in the next few years.

The six-year-old brand, launched at the New York International Auto Show in 2002, showed off its Hako coupe concept — a boxy vehicle that’s reminiscent of classic American coupes, said Jack Hollis, vice president for Scion.

Scion sold 130,000 vehicles in 2007 and the company expects to maintain the volume.

Scion has the youngest median age of buyers — 30 — in the industry and 72 percent of Scion buyers are new to Toyota. The Scion tC has a median age of 24. Scion targets “young trend leaders.”

Scion plans to keep some models — like the xA — for just a single-model cycle, while others like the xB will move into second or even third generations.

“We need to think about how we will bring more young and new customers into the Toyota family,” Hollis said. “Looking at fresh new concepts is something that Scion will be doing more often as we consider the possibility of adding a fourth, fifth or sixth vehicle to our lineup to expand the flow of youth into Toyota and Lexus.”

Hollis said Scion is considering a hybrid.

“Will we have a truck in our lineup? Does it make sense to have a hybrid powertrain? Is a subcompact roadster the answer? Or will an SUV ever be viable for us” Hollis mused. “We don’t know the answers but we’re very open-minded.”

The Scion Hako Coupe concept — named for the Japanese word for box — features a seating area called “a youth lounge” and has seats made of urethane material for easy cleaning “as we know young people live in their vehicles,” Hollis said.

Separately, Toyota spokesman Irv Miller said the company planned to revise downward its estimate of 2008 industry sales. Toyota currently is reviewing its forecast of the market and will likely announce its lower estimate of total U.S. sales during its March sales call.

But Miller said Toyota would be on the optimistic end of things, far more optimistic than J.D. Power and Associates revised forecast of 14.95 million vehicles for 2008, which would amount to more than a 1 million unit decline over 2006.

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