Scion Gives the TC a Funeral Pyre Edition
If you’ve been holding out on buying a Scion tC until the right special edition came along, this is your last opportunity.
Scion’s parent, Toyota, took the youth-oriented brand behind the woodshed last month, making the upcoming Release Series 10.0 version of the tC coupe an aerodynamic swan song.
Developed in partnership with designer Kei Miura, the Release Series 10.0 goes to town on the tC’s suspension and body.
The tC’s ride will be stiffened up (and center of gravity lowered) with the use of TRD performance shocks, a growl will be added (to replace the brand’s whimper) from a TRD exhaust system, and a Miura-designed aero kit will boost the body’s visual aggression.
Available only in Barcelona Red, the Release Series 10.0 comes with gloss black wheels and red stitching in the otherwise all-black interior. Special badging will allow owners to tell their tC Release Series apart from their neighbor’s.
The model will be displayed at next week’s New York International Auto Show before going on sale for $23,190 (in six-speed manual guise).
The show will be Scion’s last. Like John Dillinger’s fateful trip to the Biograph Theatre, this lady in (Barcelona) red is a portent of the brand’s imminent demise.
Toyota claims that Scion’s existence was an experiment in luring younger and first-time car buyers to the company, and that the tC had the lowest average buying age in the industry (29).
Once the Scion name had been officially laid to rest, the remaining models in the lineup — iA, iM and FR-S — will have their badges swapped for Toyota logos.
[Images: Toyota]
More by Steph Willems
Comments
Join the conversation
They could have tweaked it a bit and rebadged it as a Celica. I'm sure there are plenty of Toyota customers who have fond memories of them and would like one instead of a vanilla Corolla. I saw one today similar to this but with a faux center exhaust. TRD does offer a supercharger kit for these which apparently gives it more grunt.
Corey & Kyree RE: Challenger script The presence or absence of the call-out depends on year and model. My '13 R/T Plus had the fender script and HEMI on the hood bulges. My '16 R/T Plus has the HEMI replacing the fender script and nothing on the hood.