The Idiots @ Toyota Finally Ax The Scion Division

Talk about brainless! Right from day one I said what the hell's the purpose of this division that can easily re-badge their cars as Toyota's that gives you no real gimmicks to choose a Scion over a Toyota? Not even a gimmicky "no haggling" deal I just hope the dumb asses put the Toyota badges on the FRS and IQ as they should have in the first place. The rest of the lineup I won't miss. The FRS was dying for a Celica badge from day one anyhow.

 

I immediately recognized this car.
In South Africa it's sold as a Toyota 86 and Subaru BRZ. Had no idea it's also sold as a Scion FR-S.
And Subaru builds all of them.

 

The BRZ/FRS was a joint project between Subaru and Toyota, they do things like that sometimes. In fact the Scion iA was a rebadged Mazda 2 too or not a joint project between Mazda and Toyota. Although Mazda quit selling the 2 this year in America. From what I just read, as part of the brand transition, beginning in August 2016, MY17 Scion vehicles will be rebadged as Toyotas. The FR-S sports car, iA sedan and iM 5-door hatchback will become part of the Toyota family. The tC sports coupe will have a final release series edition and end production in August 2016. The C-HR, which recently debuted at the L.A. Auto Show, will be a part of the Toyota line-up. Toyota is claiming they learned some new tricks with the Scion division, and they're really not going to lose major money since all the Scion division happened to be was rebadged Toyota's plus the one Mazda too. None the less Scion never made sense to me. And Laura I can understand why you've never heard of Scion too. They used grass roots marketing or should I say word of mouth to sell their cars. Since I read a ton of car magazines, I knew about Scion from day one.

 

Maybe if there weren't Toyota and Subaru editions of the Scion FR-S, it could have been a success.
It's an old school two door coupé with a naturally aspirated engine driving the rear wheels.
But Toyota is not alone...

Skodas and Seats share many mechanical components (underframe, suspension, brakes, steering, engines & transmissions) with VWs, but they have different body panels, windows, lights, etc.
Likewise, the Ford Ranger and Mazda BT-50 are mechanically identical, but that's where the similarity stops.
They aren't simple rebadged versions.
But, in South Africa Daewoos are rebadged as Chevrolets, the Opel Corsa Utility also, and the Holden Commodore was rebadged as a Chevrolet Lumina.
How many Vauxhall cars are not rebadged Opels?

The list of what the automotive manufacturers get up to is endless.

 

Reckon it is all about how best to market a product which brings in the money when done well…

 

For the time being at least here in America, there's not much difference between the FRS and BRZ. I don't know if Toyota is going to make any major changes on the FRS when they put a Toyota badge on it.

 

Let's hope they don't.
As I said...

It sort of reminds me of this great car from 30 years ago - BMW 333i.
Enjoy...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_E30#333i

 

Well I don't know what the situation is like in South Africa but here in the USA, I wouldn't mind if Toyota made some changes on the FRS when it rebadges it, to differentiate it from the Subaru BRZ.

 

I agree.
As long as Toyota don't mess with the mechanicals. Those type of smaller, affordable, naturally aspirated engine, rear wheel drive cars are a dying breed.
One of the reasons the Mazda MX5/Miata become the world's best selling convertible.

PS When Audi launched the A3, it was basically a VW Golf in a different suit - not a rebadged Golf.
Likewise the SEAT León.

 

Well I do know how VW has a way of sharing platforms and parts with Audi. While the Lamborghini Gallardo and Huracan are very similar to the Audi R8. Here in America, VW doesn't import Seat or Skoda. In fact very few Americans even know those brands exist.

 

Interesting thing is...
Audi wanted to use an uprated version of it's 4.2 litre V8 engine for the Gallardo. But the engine was basically stretched to it's limits. So Audi designed a 5.0 litre V10 for the Lamborghini. And then used slightly detuned version for the R8.

VWSA imported SEAT models to South Africa, but it was a failure. Buying an unknown make of car is a lot different to buying a TV.

Back to Toyota...
I like the 86 and the BRZ. But Toyota & Subaru should have changed the overall designs. In the eighties, Ford SA replaced the Escort Mk3 with the Laser. Mechanically it was identical to the Mazda 323. But it had different body panels, lights, etc. And, although the Escort was one of the most popular cars in SA, it was a success.

At the recent Los Angeles Auto Show, Fiat showed it's 124 Spider. It's a Mazda MX5/Miata in a different suit! And I believe it will be a seller. Big companies copy/steal technology from one and another. But they refuse to learn from mistakes made by other companies. Afterall, it's not illegal to copy an idea.

 

The funny thing is I was just reading about the new Fiat 124 which is based off of the Mazda Miata. And Mazda is even building it for Fiat. But unlike the Toyota 86/Scion FRS/Subaru BRZ, there's no mistaking the 2 cars for each other. The new Fiat does wear its own body panels. The interior is different from the Miata's too and Fiat is using their own engine for the 124 Spider. I'm quite interested to see what the 124 is like when it finally comes out. Long ago I did take a cruise in the original Fiat 124. A friend of mine in high school had one that was in pretty bad shape. I wasn't impressed with it back then. My parts of America turned cars like Fiats back then into instant rust anyhow. Most cars are more rust resistant now than they were back then. In fact I own a 9 year Honda now with no rust on it. Back in the 70's or 80's any Honda would be very rusty after 9 years, unless that Honda happened to be in one of our snow free southern climates.

 

Thay's the way to do it.

In the '70s & '80s Fiats would start rusting when you speak of rain.

 

True Fiats were infamous for rust then. Unfortunately so was my Datsun 280Z. There was no freaking way to keep it rust free in this climate unless you garage it all Winter. In fact last year I met a guy with a rust free 280Z who told me he tests the road before he takes it out to make sure there's no salt on it. His system sucks but it works.