by Larry Edsall, 2007-Feb-12

Chicago Auto Show 2007

CHICAGO — Scion doesn't want to be all things to all people, though it does want to be especially relevant to a select few.

On second thought, make that quite a few.

"Today, there are more than 142 million people in the United States under the age of 35," Scion vice president Mark Templin said here at the Chicago Auto Show as he unveiled Scion's newest pair of vehicles — the 2008 xD and 2008 xB. "At Scion," he continued, "we focus on a mere 10 percent of this youthful population by specifically targeting the true trend leaders."

Instead of all things to all people, Scion wants to be relevant to a very specific niche.

"Last year," Templin added, "we were relevant to more than 173,000 new-car buyers," and, he said proudly, they comprised the youngest customer base by median age for any automaker offering vehicles in the U.S.

What Templin didn't say was that those 173,034 sales of just three vehicles — the xA, xB and tC — also put Scion ahead of Buick, Cadillac, Saturn, Infiniti, Audi, Volvo and Saab in the new car sales race, and within some 10,000 units of Mercedes-Benz, Subaru and Lexus.

Scion has built such numbers so quickly by following a very different sort of business plan: Offering very few vehicles — vehicles "a bit out of the ordinary," as Templin phrased it — building them on very short production cycles, and thus keeping things fresh.

Thus it's already time for a second-generation of the xB and for the new xD that replaces the xA.

Unlike the typical automaker, Scion didn't show just the production version of its new vehicles, but also two very customized examples, because, after all, personalization is very big with Scion's core customer, whether he or she is customizing a vehicle, an iPod play list, a My-Space web page or even his or her body with tattoos and piercings.

"Keeping it simple is a critical element of the Scion mystique," Templin said of the decision to offer so few vehicles, and to offer them monospec, different from each other — at least on the showroom floor — only in color and offering the buyer a choice of manual or automatic transmission.

"That's because Scion owners see their cars as a blank canvas on which they can make a defining statement about themselves," Templin explained.

Or, putting it another way, he offered this: "From off the rack to off the wall."

Thus, in addition to showing the showroom-ready xB and xD for the first time, Scion also showed highly customized examples from Five-Axis, and promised that customized body kits, TRD suspension tweaks and other such goodies will be available when the xB launches in April and the xD reaches dealerships in August.

The xD is built on the same platform as the Toyota Yaris and is powered by a 128-horsepower, 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine (25 more hp than the xA had available). Five-speed manual or four-speed automatic gearbox is available.

The xD also comes with a 160-watt audio system that can be controlled from the steering wheel or Pioneer head unit and includes a mini-jack port, air conditioning, power windows, locks, and a rear seat that slides fore and aft and reclines.

Front seats get front and side airbags and both rows are covered by side-curtain airbags. Anti-lock brakes also are standard.

The second-generation xB gets a nicely updated exterior design with cool looking air slits cut into the front fascia and with a less boxy but still very different profile and fender details. The exterior design cues are based on the t2B concept shown two years ago at the New York show.

The instrument cluster is new, and offers the driver a choice of seeing clock, outside temperature, current or average fuel economy or distance to empty in the left-hand display.

Standard equipment includes four-wheel disc brakes and cruise control.

The engine is the 2.4-liter four from the tC, and its 158-horsepower is 55 more than before, and can be linked to a five-speed manual or Scion's first four-speed sequential-shifting automatic.