Scion Second-Fastest Growing Brand In September; New IA And IM Lead

Timothy Cain
by Timothy Cain
scion second fastest growing brand in september new ia and im lead

The FR-S did not turn out to be Scion’s savior. Doubts regarding the ability of a conventional hatchback and a subcompact sedan — the brand’s first sedan — to rescue a brand that was built on unconventional cars have been expressed in many corners.

Yet with the arrival of those two cars, the iA and iM, Scion was the fastest-growing car brand in America in September 2015 and the second-fastest-growing brand overall.

Only the 89-percent increase attributed to Land Rover, an SUV-only brand, was superior to Scion’s 57-percent leap forward in September 2015.

Both brands benefited from disappointing results one year ago, which created the chance for September 2015 to appear especially healthy. Both brands benefited from the overhaul of large chunks of their model range. Both brands benefited from being low-volume marques — an 89-percent year-over-year improvement at Ford, for example, would have required an additional 153,000 sales in September; only 2,749 were required at Land Rover.

Nevertheless, relative to Scion’s own historic performances, September 2015 was the best U.S. sales month for the Toyota sub-brand in more than two years, the first month with more than 6,000 sales in over a year, and the best September in three years.

All credit goes to the newcomers. Excluding the iA and iM from the equation results in a drop of 25 percent in September volume with declines reported across the board. Now the best-selling Scion in the United States in September was a model that was only released for sale in September, the iA, a sedan version of the new Mazda2 which won’t even be sold in the U.S.

In its first month on the market, Scion reported 2,035 iA sales, and one wouldn’t think to credit “pent-up demand” for a hot start of a subcompact sedan. Toyota Yaris sales slid 2 percent to only 586 units in September; the Prius C was up 5 percent to 3,367 U.S. sales.

Meanwhile, the second-best-selling Scion in September was the similarly fresh iM, which produced 1,353 sales in its first month on the market. The Toyota Auris-based iM could be thought of as a very indirect successor to the Toyota Matrix and Scion xB.

Together, the iA and iM accounted for 52 percent of Scion’s September 2015 volume, a clear sign that the long-awaited Scion lineup overhaul took place very suddenly.

Scion was still selling a fair number of existing machines in September, at least by modern Scion standards. The xB isn’t dead yet. Sales of that model still totalled 1,117 units last month. The tC, the most popular Scion since 2011, was down 14 percent to 1,208. The FR-S, which attracted more than 1,000 U.S. owners in 27 of its first 30 months, has done so only four times this year. September sales slid 15 percent to 778 units, the second-lowest full month total for the FR-S in its nearly four-year history.

The iQ and xD are all but extinguished. Between the pair there were only 19 sales in September.

Yet even if the iA and iM can increase their totals to replace what will presumably be even more lost sales from the xB, FR-S, and tC, Scion will still only be selling half as many cars as they managed to sell in 2006. In other words, at September’s much improved sales pace, Scion would perhaps top 80,000 annual sales. That would be the highest U.S. Scion sales total in seven years, which only makes sense given the fact that the overall industry is generating more activity than at any point in the last seven years.

Even with new models being added to the fleet, even if they sell more often than any Scion has in the last half-decade or more, the greater issue facing Toyota’s sub-brand is its car-centric lineup.

Yes, in September 2015, Americans actually bought and leased more new cars than in the same period one year earlier — but not many more. In a market which surged forward with a 16 percent year-over-year increase, passenger car volume was up just 6 percent as SUV/crossover sales jumped 31 percent.

With high value quotients, the iA and iM are likely to restore a measure of health to Scion’s U.S. sales situation. However, in order for Scion to approach the days of routinely selling more than 100,000 new vehicles per year as it did between 2005 and 2008, Toyota’s Frankfurt crossover debut, the C-HR Concept, must end up in America as a Scion. Nothing about the current state of affairs suggests that, for any brand, traditional passenger cars are the ticket to high-volume bliss.

Timothy Cain is the founder of GoodCarBadCar.net, which obsesses over the free and frequent publication of U.S. and Canadian auto sales figures. Follow on Twitter @goodcarbadcar and on Facebook.

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  • Tekdemon Tekdemon on Oct 05, 2015

    It's really too bad that they won't refresh the xB with a less chunky looking body and a modern powertrain, but I think Toyota doesn't really want it to cut into pricier models. If the xB was actually modernized it'd probably steal a few RAV4 sales.

  • Corey Lewis Corey Lewis on Oct 06, 2015

    I still haven't seen either of these new Scion models on the road. They aren't selling in SW Ohio, apparently.

  • Sayahh Is it 1974 or 1794? The article is inconsistent.
  • Laura I just buy a Hyndai Elantra SEL, and My car started to have issues with the AC dont work the air sometimes is really hot and later cold and also I heard a noice in the engine so I went to the dealer for the first service and explain what was hapenning to the AC they told me that the car was getting hot because the vent is not working I didnt know that the car was getting hot because it doesnt show nothing no sign no beep nothing I was surprise and also I notice that it needed engine oil, I think that something is wrong with this car because is a model 23 and I just got it on April only 5 months use. is this normal ? Also my daughter bought the same model and she went for a trip and the car also got hot and it didnt show up in the system she called them and they said to take the car to the dealer for a check up I think that if the cars are new they shouldnt be having this problems.
  • JamesGarfield What charging network does the Polestar use?
  • JamesGarfield Re: Getting away from union plantsAbout a dozen years or so ago, Caterpillar built a huge new engine plant, just down the road here in Seguin TX. Story has it, Caterpillar came to Seguin City council in advance, and told them their plans. Then they asked for no advanced publicity from Seguin, until announcement day. This new plant was gonna be a non-union replacement for a couple of union plants in IL and SC, and Cat didn't want to stir up union problems until the plan was set. They told Seguin, If you about blab this in advance, we'll walk. Well, Seguin kept quiet as instructed, and the plan went through, with all the usual expected tax abatements given.Plant construction began, but the Caterpillar name was conspicuously absent from anywhere on the site. Instead, the plant was described as being a collective of various contractors and suppliers for Caterpillar. Which in fact, it was. Then comes the day, with the big new plant fully operationa!, that Caterpillar comes in and announces, Hey, Yeah it's our plant, and the Caterpillar name boldly goes up on the front. All you contractor folks, welcome aboard, you're now Caterpillar employees. Then, Cat turns and announces they are closing those two union plants immediately, and will be transporting all the heavy manufacturing equipment to Seguin. None of the union workers, just the equipment. And today, the Caterpillar plant sits out there, humming away happily, making engines for the industry and good paying jobs for us. I'd call that a winner.
  • Stuki Moi What Subaru taketh away in costs, dealers will no doubt add right back in adjustments.... Fat chance Subaru will offer a sufficient supply of them.
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