I was sitting at the bank esterday waiting to change an account and I started reading random sections from the Wall Street Journal. That day they had an automotive section and the front page article was about the Scions. I didn't get a chance to read the whole thing but from what I read, it seems that Scions are selling decently now. They are projecting sales based on current sales to sell between 25-30,000 units! Dealers are actually are starting to put people on waiting lists for them. Because of this, Nissan is considering importing the Cube as their toaster on wheels combatant against the element and the xB.

I'm not making this up either. I'd look for the article on wsj.com but I need to pay $70 for a yearly membership to access this.

 

wow, for as ugly as those things are, i cant believe theres actually a waiting list
i guess it compares to a waiting list for the pt cruisers, etc.
diff strokes for diff folks i guess

 

Yeah, but isn't 25-30k units still pretty weak? That doesn't sound like much to me. I figured they would have to produce a lot more of those things to make them profitable.

 

well, since its a box on wheels, it shouldnt take too much to turn a profit

o, and dont forget, i think camaro sold like 30k units or so in its last year, so..take that info and see what you come up with

 

F-body total was like 60-70,000 a year the last few years right?

 

This is the beginning of the end...

 

I dunno . . . 25 to 30K is VERY weak in a segment where the Civic sells 200K. Plus, are these numbers based on best-day peak sales, or extrapolated from CA sales? They may be extremely bogus.

I sincerely doubt if Toyota is going to give the magazines a negative spin less tha a few months after launch. Even GM said they were pleased with Aztek sales in the first year, before they admitted they were smoking their lawn.

In C&D, they get a rather neutral reaction from the twentysomethings they interview about Scion, but Motor Trend got a strong negative reaction from high school students. Doesn't bode well.

 

Remember, these things have been selling well in Japan for at least a couple of years, so they are already paid for.

Trivia: Toyota saved a bunch of money by breaking down the machinery that made the last Toyota Avalons here in the US, shipped it to Australia & reassembled it with few modifications, and produced a brand new entry off of a retired design. In a way what Toyota is doing with the Scion.

 

And this is nothing new to the auto market. In Mexico and India for example, our yesterday's news is their amazingly new products! Kinda like us here in da UP!