2005 Scion xA Preview

Playing to the Young Crowd

Toyota goes hunting for younger buyers, but will younger buyers want what it's selling?

It's hard to imagine a carmaker more fit for world dominance.

Toyota, after all, is worth more than the Big Three combined (at least in terms of the value of its stock). For the third quarter of 2003 it surpassed Ford in global sales (and may soon hold that position permanently), and, by many buyers' likes, makes the most reliable vehicles on earth.

Meanwhile, Toyota has quietly but clearly taken a strong lead on selling hybrids (gasoline/electric cars with batteries that automatically recharge; the system saves fuel and pollutes less). The next-generation Prius has just launched and will likely be the first no-compromises hybrid sold, and will be joined later this year by the hybrid Highlander crossover and its twin, the Lexus RX330 (called the 400H in hybrid format). Meanwhile, only Honda fights Toyota with its own hybrids; Ford, General Motors and DaimlerChrysler have promised hybrids for years and yet never seem ready to deliver these vehicles.

So then, Toyota sells all the cars it makes using half the incentives that GM does, has a great reputation for being "green" and a great rep for high quality as well. What, possibly, could be wrong with this picture?

In a word (think 17-year-old mall rat here): BO-ring!

Mom drives a Lexus SUV. Dad drives a Camry. Yawn. Johnny wants something cooler. Daughter Jane wants something cooler. Heck, even their thirtysomething uncle wants something cooler (and drives a BMW).

Not getting the point? Toyota and Lexus sell great vehicles -- to older buyers. Younger buyers don't buy from Lexus and Toyota, and efforts to change its buyer demographic have largely shown only incremental success. The RX 330 and GX 470 do look "younger" and garner younger buyers. But buyers of the Avalon and Camry tend to be much older than those buying equivalent models from Nissan and Honda. Even Toyota's least expensive model, the Corolla, has an average buyer age of 44, versus 38 for Honda's Civic. Toyota tried to lower this demographic by launching the Echo, then the Matrix, but with little success.

That's not a huge deal right now. But it will be.

Fastforward ten years from now and the boomers and yuppies who were sold on Toyota back in the 1970s and '80s (when GM, Ford, and Chrysler didn't know how to make fun, reliable, fuel-efficient cars) will all be retired. These people tend to be fairly wealthy -- but unlikely to splurge on expensive SUVs (no kids around anymore) or luxury sedans (no clients to take to the links or to dinner). To put it bluntly, Toyota looks to the future and is scared white -- they see themselves turning into Oldsmobile.

The solution is to change the Toyota/Lexus image incrementally, systematically. First you get hipper-looking SUVs like the RX330. Next, there will be racier Lexus sedans coming to compete with upstart Infiniti and resurgent Cadillac.

And of course, there is Toyota's Scion brand, now debuting nationally. Scion already sells the xB and the $13,280 xA (the latter is the subject of this review), and this summer will debut a much sportier model, called the tC. The mandate of Scion is to bring much younger, first-time car buyers into Toyota stores (Scion shops are to be set up separately, but Toyota dealers will park them right next to their Toyota/Lexus store fronts).

But after driving the xA for a week, we have to wonder if Japan's largest carmaker hasn't once again missed its target. How come? Keep reading.