by Mike Kowdley, 2003-Nov-11

Scion xA's and xB's Invade the 2003 SEMA Auto Show

LAS VEGAS, NV. The Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) has its biggest trade show in early November each year at the Last Vegas Convention Center and this year was no exception. The show featured over 2 million square feet of exhibitor booths, demos, featured vehicles, and press conferences. It's an industry-only show, and still over 80,000 people from around the world descend on Las Vegas to see what's the latest and greatest in the automotive aftermarket world. Most vehicle manufacturers and thousands of aftermarket parts manufacturers and distributors have booths as far as the eye can see, ready to show the world their latest service or newest product. As an industry-only show, it's not open to the general public, but with out partner sites we have enough news and photographs to bring the show to you.

We visited the show from November 4th through November 7th this year and took it all in. After four days of walking past over 8,000 booths we noticed one thing was certain — the Scion xA's and xB's were at SEMA in full force. We got photos of three xA's and fourteen xB's in our photo gallery, a pretty significant number considering that Scion made up only 1.8% of Toyota's total passenger car sales in October. The tuner market is definitely telling us something! Here's some of the vehicles that we saw:

SCC (The Sport Compact Council) brought out their 2003 xB with BF Goodrich Tires, ICON Wheels, an Inalfa sunroof, and a Nitrous Oxide System. With striking silver paint and an MTX sound system, it was certainly an eye catcher.

Wes and Sara Nelson brought in their 2004 Scion xB with Nitto Tires, G racing wheels, and a Bullet exhaust. Painted like an old style race car by RBS Graphics with a giant number 04 across the side, it couldn't be missed. The accents on this car's interior are pretty striking, check it out the rest of our photos of this vehicle in the photo gallery.

Some of the most interesting Scions at the show, however, were not from aftermarket shops, but from Toyota itself, showcased in their booth in South Hall. Toyota showed their TRD Concept Turbo xB and the 2004 Primer xA. Additionally, Toyota showed a 2004 xB by Longo Scion and a 2004 xA by L.J.Garcia. The beauty of this of course is that Toyota is showing the public/industry their commitment to the tuner market for Scions.

The TRD Concept Turbo xB showcases the TRD 1.5L Prototype Supercharger that provides an additional 50 horsepower and 50 lb.-ft of torque — almost a 50% increase over the 2004 TRD xB's 108 horsepower DOHC inline 4. On top of this, the Concept Turbo features the TRD Sport Muffler which Toyota says brings in an additional 3 horsepower and 3 lb.-ft. torque, along with "tuned sound, without intrusive noise". Do the math, that's 161 horsepower using parts straight from Toyota! (Toyota's TRD Parts Catalog describe the Scion Sport Muffler as offering a 2 hp increase.) Sitting on Racing Hart Evolution 5-spoke brushed aluminum wheels (18"x7.5") with the TRD designation and TRD-logo center caps with 215/35 tires from Pirelli, the Concept Turbo xB has a tuner engineered appearance straight from Toyota. Let's hope Toyota makes the production Turbo just as racy.

Here's the full stats for the Scion TRD Concept Turbo xB from the show:

TRD 1.5L Prototype Supercharger Utilizes a Garrett T25R turbocharger with intercooler Increases horsepower up to 50 hp and 50 lb.-ft of torque Provides up to 7 lbs. Boost	Appearance Enhancements 4-Piece Body Kit: Modelista DAMD Styling Effect for bB High-quality ABS Plastic Custom Graphics: Molly Designs, Huntington Beach, CA
Suspension Components TRD Lowering Springs: Progressive coils provide comfortable ride and sporty handling White powder coat finish TRD Sport Struts/Shocks: Provide proper valving for shorter springs Maintain factory specs and quality Strut Tower Brace, Front: Reduce chassis flex during hard cornering resulting in improved handling and response Powder-coated in electric blue and features a silver TRD badge	TRD Sport Muffler Increases horsepower up to 3 hp and 3 lb.-ft of torque Tuned sound, without intrusive noise Constructed of polished stainless steel with a 3.5" outlet

The 2004 Primer xA stood out because of how well it fit its name — the matte finish of it's primer-like paint job. Custom pinstripes show that it isn't a work-in-progress. The Primer xA also features the TRD Sport Muffler, a TRD Lowering Spring Kit, a TRD Strut/Shock Kit, and 19" TRD 5-Spoke wheels. Although we probably won't see something like this on showroom floors any time soon it is a good chance to check out what the TRD wheels and lowering kits can do for appearances.

Next up in the Toyota booth was Longo Scion's 2004 xB. This ride included 2" drop springs from Spy Engineering and a Hotchkiss Stress Tower Bar, but the real show was its fully custom audio system with speakers filling the entire trunk area. Audio components include:

We didn't get to hear the Longo's sound system live, but the installation was beautifully done and we can only guess what the experience would be like. The wheels shown here are 18" Axis Spiders.

All that needs to be said about the last Scion in the Toyota booth is that L.J.Garcia is to the xA what Longo is to the xB. Also in retina-burning yellow, this xA featured quite a few custom body modifications inside and out, in addition to an Audiobahn sound system with four 10-inch subwoofers (in two push-pull pairs). It includes several custom body pieces: body kit, carbon-fiber hood, side mirrors, rear spoiler, as well as a dual sunroof from Webasto. The wheels are by Racing Hart and tires from BF Goodrich.

Additional photos of every one of these vehicles, plus several more that we found on the show floor, can be seen in the ScionZone.Com Photo Gallery. Checking out Toyota lineup shows us what's in store for Scion in 2004 both from Toyota and from TRD. Keep your eyes peeled for more developments!