Scion’s Interest in Online Car Sales Hint At Toyota’s Future
Jason Lancaster | Aug 01, 2011 | Comments 6
When Toyota created the Scion brand, it was as much as experiment as it was an effort to sell cars. Toyota wanted to improve their image with young consumers, teach Toyota dealers how to sell accessories, and try out a new “pure pricing” sales method that was transparent and consumer friendly.
Scion investigates online sales model similar to Amazon.com
While Scion sales have been up and down (mostly down lately), the fundamental purpose of the brand hasn’t changed: it’s still an experiment. The next iteration of this experiment is likely to be an “Amazon.com” style online sales system for Scions that allows consumers to configure the car they want, arrange financing, and schedule delivery and/or pickup completely online.
Will it work – will consumers buy Scions online? That’s what the experiment is meant to determine. If the answer is yes, you can bet Toyota and Lexus will eventually follow suit.
A Little Scion History
When I worked for a Toyota dealer in Denver, I was fortunate enough to be charged with opening and promoting a brand new Scion dealership. With Scion, Toyota hoped to address some problematic trends that threatened both the Toyota and Lexus brands, including:
- Toyota’s average new car buyer was quite a bit older than the industry average – something like 45 years old at Toyota, 55 years old at Lexus, but only 28 years old in the industry (NOTE: The numbers are from memory, but the trend is correct)
- Neither Toyota or Lexus were on the radar of the so called millennial generation – the up-and-coming car buyers of the future felt that neither of these brands were “cool”
- Toyota and Lexus struggled to sell accessories to new car buyers, while other manufacturers (like Jeep) and their dealers were making a very nice profit selling factory accessories
In my opinion, Scion addressed all of these marks reasonably well. While they never sold in great numbers, Scion put Toyota back in front of young consumers, boosted dealership accessory sales, and even brought down the average age of the Toyota buyer.
Scion and the Future of Toyota
Because Scion is meant to be Toyota’s gateway to young buyers, it’s not any stretch of the imagination to say that Scion is the future of Toyota. Over the next few years, it’s likely that we’ll see Toyota embrace the same “pure price” sales philosophy in Toyota and Lexus showrooms. We’ll also see more and more emphasis on factory authorized accessories. But will we see an Amazon.com type sales system, where anyone can go online and buy a Toyota or Lexus with nothing more than a few mouse clicks?
It’s certainly possible. More and more people are choosing to buy products online, and even some fairly expensive items – like jewelry, homes, boats, etc. – can be purchased completely online.
What do you think – would you buy your next car completely online?
Filed Under: Auto News
no way, buying sight unseen is crazy, especially with anything say over 500 bucks as is a car of course.
As long as I get a chance to test drive one locally, I would have no problem ordering a vehicle online. If they price the vehicles well, knocking off the dealer mark-up etc. it would be even better. I remember when Saturn did this a decade or so back with a no haggle online price. I didn’t like the Saturns but it was a great concept.
mk – Understood.
Cephus – I agree with you. I think that some people will still want to test drive before they buy, however, which could cause a problem. Of course, if Scion allows buyers to return an online order and/or gives them some sort of satisfaction guarantee, I think that solves the issue.
I’d be skeptical of purchasing before driving a vehicle. I’ve done it ONCE with a Lexus and wasn’t disappointed. There was a new year model and the particular one we wanted was not in stock. We looked at the interior of the ones there although we’d driven the previous year model. Decided to go with the new model, chose a color, and had one re-routed from it’s original desination port for delivery. It’s something about driving the actual vehicle you’re getting before signing the paperwork that makes me just feel more comfortable.
TXTee – I hear you and I can’t say that I don’t agree. I’d like to be able to buy a car online only – and I probably would – but I’d be nervous about condition and quality. Also, congrats on the Lexus! Are you rolling in cash or what? 🙂
Could have done the same with an 06 Intimidator SS which was 450miles away. They wanted me to buy first then they would get the truck. I believe in at least test driving a vehicle first. They didn’t have an SS around the city also so I had no idea how the suspension would act on the truck.