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COPYRIGHT 2005 The Dallas Morning News
Byline: Terry Box
Mar. 26--From some angles -- maybe most -- the Scion xB looks like the shipping crate a real car came in.
But the first time that Zeb Campbell saw one, he pronounced it "extremely cool" -- and his opinion counts with Toyota, which introduced the Scion division in Texas about a year ago.
"It takes a certain laid-back, be-different attitude to drive a Scion," said Mr. Campbell of Graham, who at 23 is a member of the huge Gen Y group Toyota is aiming for with Scion.
The new division enters its second year with momentum. Last year, Scion -- pronounced sigh-on -- had sales of 99,259 vehicles, about 30 percent more than Toyota expected.
In addition, Scion says it's reaching young buyers. That's a significant accomplishment in the auto industry, which is dominated by baby-boomers who keep the average age of buyers for most vehicles above 40.
Scion customers are among the youngest in the industry, with the average age ranging from 26 to 38 on the three models of vehicles the division sells, said Jim Farley, vice president of the Scion division at Toyota Motor Sales USA. Moreover, 85 percent of the buyers are new to Toyota, with most coming from Honda.
Those successes are important to Toyota, but the...
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