Toyota discontinues Scion brand

Toyota has announced that it has discontinued its Scion brand in international markets following declining sales and the carmaker’s move to re-invent itself in the market. Scion had been established in 2003 by Toyota as a brand to target a younger audience in international markets.

“This isn’t a step backward for Scion; it’s a leap forward for Toyota. Scion has allowed us to fast-track ideas that would have been challenging to test through the Toyota network,” said Jim Lentz, founding vice president of Scion and now CEO, Toyota Motor North America.

As part of the transition, nearly all models under the Scion badge will be rebadged as Toyota and will continue to be on offer while the tC sports coupé will be axed from the model line-up following the rebadging which starts from August 2016.

The upcoming production C-HR will be badged a Toyota model when it makes a market launch. Toyota will also start handling all warranty, service, financing and repair work for all Scion models following the transition.