Autoblog

Click above to view video after jump

While the Scion tC Release Series 4.0 is little more than a body-kit and a paint job for a sporty two-door in need of a redesign, we imagine that a few more of them could move off the lots with cool advertising like you see in the video pasted after the break. This type of interactive advertising is pretty cool, in a Minority Report sort-of-way. If we are going to be continually bombarded with billboards, they may as well be cool to look at and interactive. From the looks of things, the game-like display that Scion and InWindow teamed up to create is rather attention grabbing. Click after the jump to view for yourself.

[Source: Youtube via Engadget]

Scion keeps coming up with all kinds of ways to let owners customize their owner's club credentials. The latest is Scion Speak, which gives users the power to create a custom coat-of-arms to show their love for Scion Nation. When you've got your family shield -- or Scion gang affiliation -- properly gussied up, you can have it turned into a window sticker, or, get this: have it painted on your car. We'd recommend starting with a sticker. As with a tattoo, there's nothing like trying to explain that pink shield emblazoned with the middle finger and Team Hamster underneath when your situation changes. And those are all real options. There is quite the range of icons, from a toilet to sperm to a teddy bear, to... nun chucks. But don't use those... And to the xB owner in Oklahoma City, nice work!

[Source: Scion Speak via Carscoop]

For the first 255 days of 2006, Scion sold more than 151,000 cars. Next year, the youth-oriented brand plans to sell even fewer. The Wall Street Journal reports that Toyota plans to limit its youth brand's sales to a year-long total of only 150,000 vehicles next year. Toyota hopes that by keeping Scion a hard-to-obtain product, the brand can retain some of its underground coolness. Hmmm... that's the same kind of strategy used by brand's like Bentley to keep its car's ultra exclusive.

Limiting sales is a pretty big gamble for any brand, but is an especially big gamble for one selling essentially economy cars that most other carmakers sell at a loss. Add in the two new models Scion will have on lots next spring, and the stakes climb even higher. Only a company with pockets as deep as Toyota could run such a marketing experiment without much trepidation.

To further enhance that can't-have-it appeal, Scion is expected to move away from advertising on the "too mainstream" MySpace and instead focus its online efforts on Secondlife. Scion may also totally shun TV advertising, though its TV presence was limited to begin with. It's a novel way to pitch cars to the ever-elusive youth crowd that could just be crazy enough to work.

[Source: The Wall Street Journal via Inside Line]