Breaking: Toyota Decides To Kill Scion Subdivision

Toyota gave notice to its employees that Scion is officially extinct and no longer in business as of February 3. 

Update: Toyota gives official confirmation

Scion was started in 2002 as a subdivision of Toyota Motors but its time as a branch of Toyota has come to an end. According to Car Buzzard and confirmed by Motor Trend, it looks like Toyota has decided to kill the Scion brand altogether in a move that has shocked both its employees and the automotive world.

The whole meeting was “Top secret” and was held earlier Tuesday afternoon. Scion has headquarters in Torrance, California and its employees were told that their jobs were not secure. Instead, that were told to reapply for other internal jobs through Toyota’s hiring process. This would mean moving all the way to Texas if offered a position. Earlier last year Toyota moved its corporate headquarters from Southern California to Plano.

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Scion was first introduced to the public back in 2002 and it has continuously provided products aimed at a younger demographic. Affordable styling with reliable Toyota engineering was the calling card for any Scion product. With its true demographic hovering close to 50-years-old, many wondered if its mission was actually being accomplished.

Some critics of the brand saw Scion as Toyota trying its best to trick a younger buyer into getting into econoboxes with a sports-like body without any of the actual performance. In other words, consumers and journalists saw through the badge engineering behind the facade.

Scion brought us the Scion xA (which was replaced by the xD), xB, tC, iQ and FR-S. Earlier this year Scion introduced the Scion iA and iM with an all-new crossover on the way. Suffice to say, things were looking up for Scion but it looks like all hasn’t worked out.

As for the Scion FR-S, if this iconic car is brought back to market with a second generation, it’ll most likely come back as a Toyota.

Someone even graciously updated their Wikipedia page mere hours after news hit mainstream media.

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For now, we remember a company that tried its best to offer engaging products to a millennial generation. And for that we tip our hats.

And if you were wondering, Toyota will drop a formal announcement tomorrow at 9 A.M.