It's Official: The Scion Brand Is Dead

It's been announced that Scion is no more, as the brand's vehicles will be badged as Toyotas from the 2017 model year onwards

Matt Robinson

03 Feb 2016

Toyota has announced today that the Scion brand is no more. The Japanese auto giant first launched it in 2003 with the aim of attracting younger buyers in the North American market, and it seemed to have worked - the brand has the youngest average buyer age (36) in the car industry, apparently. Regardless, Toyota has seen fit to kill off Scion.

The tC (below) will die with the brand, ending production in August 2016, while the remaining models - the FR-S, iA and iM - will be sold as Toyotas from the 2017 model year onwards. The incoming Scion C-HR will also be getting a Toyota badge.

The 22-strong team of dedicated Scion employees will all be offered new jobs at Toyota USA, while servicing and repairs for Scion vehicles will continue with Toyota dealerships as normal. Meanwhile, people from the rest of the world are still looking at the top image thinking “what’s that weird badge on the front of that GT86?”

UPDATE: Toyota USA has since confirmed to us that the FR-S model name will still be used after the Scion brand is discontinued.

Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.

Comments

Am i the only one who is kinda happy about it? I mean all of us knew they are toyotas, so why call them scions?

Why not?

Because the world isn’t made up of car people like us. Believe it or not there’s people that don’t realize it’s all the same company.

I’m happy that the POS Scion brand is gone. The GT86 will finally have a Toyota badge in the US.

I have always liked Scion. Sad to see it go.

So does that mean the 86 is coming to America? 😏

Well, I needed an article for my Econ class. This will do just fine… However, since all Scions were essentially Toyotas, I’m not particularly distraught.

Agreed

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

At first I thought “aww sweet, can’t waut the tC to recieve a Toyota badge” but then I kept reading and my blood pressure rised. I’m also worried about the people who worked for Scion, they could work for Toyota, but I’m pretty sure all of them will get lesser paid jobs which is a shame. The tC was a really nice car. Always wanted it (together with the Mitsu Eclipse) to drive someday on the European streets.