...And haven't they learned that the generation they're targeting, doesn't like to have products marketed towards them? A bunch of 40+ year olds will end up being the buyers. Someone at Toyota still doesn't want to admit that Scion is a lame duck.
Just because that's who they market at, doesn't mean that's who they target....
You know why the 40 year-olds buy them? Because they think they're for youthful people. Because of the marketing.
Cynical, but clever.
Maybe "youthful marketing" is part of the reason why older people buy them. But I would argue that a far bigger reason why 40+ year-olds are the primary purchasers (like in almost every automotive segment) is that
they have far more discretionary money to buy new vehicles.I'm sure Toyota, like every other MNFR, doesn't give a rat's behind WHO buys their vehicle - all money is equally valid. And older people (generally) have more money to buy such vehicles. But if it takes youthful advertising to get old people to buy it, so be it.
I would argue that Scion isn't a failure because it was marketed to kids, but boomers bought the vehicles. It's a failure (primarily) because the vehicles don't sell well, and likely are low margin / low profit. There also might be an argument that Scion has failed if it is only grabbing sales that would have gone to Toyota anyway (i.e. xB instead of Matrix, xA instead of Yaris).
