The beginning

I have worked for Rick Hendrick Toyota/ Scion for over 2 years now. I really enjoy what I do. I am the Business Development Manager for the dealership, which means I wear many hats.

Toyotas have always been a great, reliable, dependible vehicle to drive. Toyota had to have an entry vehicle that introduce young people to the Toyota family. The Toyota Corolla has alwas been a great but really no excitement comes with it after dad passes it down to you. The Corolla made for a great beginner vehicle for a 16 kid and an awesome college car that can take 2 semesters of NO maintance unstil summer break when daddy flips the bill.

Toyota Motor Sales really had to present something fun and exciting to attract young kids. In a world of the Honda Civic Si, Volkswagen GTI, and Nissan SE-R Toyota only had the Corolla-XRS. The XRS prove to performe just as good as the competition but never really gave that flare of an entry-level car that made a 16 year old feel like they were driving dads Porsche 944 or 911.

The SCION brand was born with a few principles in mind. Affordable, and screaming "customize me PLEASE"! This wa excellent for Toyota a seperate brand targeted to 18 - 24 year-old market. Something happened that Toyota did not expect. At a time when people commute to a work in a city they do not live in and MPG is a factor but quality is important a different age range bought into SCION.

It was the 24-35 age group that bought into SCION for several reasons. When you can buy an 2005 Scion xA for ruoghly around $13k and it was made the high quality car builder Toyota, and it got the same fuel economy of a Toyota Prius, why not? SCION offered at the time the most factory options of any production vehicle out there the customizers took notice. Eighter spend $23K for a Chevy Blazer or $15K for a SCION xB and spend the $8K you saved on a killer stereo system.

The iconic Scion xB became the most highly customized vehicle in 2005. Because of all of its flat lines it became the inexpensive advertising media for big business and small business a-like. This one vehicle help to catapult several industries. At 2005 SEMA show in Las Vegas, NV there were more SCION xBs used as display vehicles to show company's new accessories than any other vehicle. Over 20% of the exhibitors had some form of SCION as a showcar.

Fast forward to today 2008 and SCION is still going strong and recognized by several customers, retailers, and 3rd party review companies as a TOP pick above it's competiotion. That's why I drive one.