2012 Scion Tc Coupe 2-door 2.5l on 2040-cars

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Scion grabs Franco and Urkel in Weird move to sell iM and iA

Scion is prepping the advertising campaign for the new iA and iM and as so many automakers have done before, it's recruited some celebrity talent. It's choice of actors, though, is kind of strange. First, we have Mr. James Franco, star of This Is The End and generally weird dude. He pitches both the iA and iM, playing two different roles. While in the iA, he's James Franco The Actor, while the iM sees him shift into an "experimental artist." Along with talking about how strange it is that "someone so complex" would drive a "practical" car, Scion's narrator goes as far as admitting that it's kind of weird that the budget manufacturer was even able to scoop the Hollywood talent. The second spokesman, though, is even stranger. It's none other than Jaleel White, best known as Steven Q. Urkel from 1990s sitcom Family Matters. He stars alongside, um, Urkel (not to mention a rather annoying laugh track). In a rather weird spot that highlights the dual-zone climate control, White stars alongside a wax figurine of his iconic television character, even dropping one of his famous lines at the end. And finally, while this one doesn't have a celebrity endorsement, Scion prepared a third spot to support its new iA. Featuring a wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube man, it's perhaps the weirdest of the three videos. We have Franco's video at the top of the page, while the Urkel/White spot and wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube man clip are available below. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Scion Brings the 'Weird' with James Franco and Jaleel White New Ad Campaign for Scion iA and iM Celebrates Everything Out of the Ordinary September 14, 2015 TORRANCE, Calif. (Sept. 14, 2015) – Scion has always been a little weird. With no-haggle pricing, standard premium features and cars shaped like toasters, Scion has proudly done things differently. Now, actors James Franco, Jaleel White, and an inflatable tube man take the all-new Scion iM and iA for a spin in the brand's newest ad campaign, titled "Weird, Right?" This is the largest marketing campaign for Scion since the brand's launch in 2003. The wave of weird contains three :30 TV spots.

Hi-po Toyota GT86 to get KERS?

We happen to like the Toyota GT86 - and, it of course goes without saying that the same applies to the Subaru BRZ and Scion FR-S, as well - just the way it is. Yes, that includes the standard 2.0-liter four-cylinder boxer engine and its 200 horsepower at 7,000 rpm.
That said, a little extra power never hurt anybody, right?
The most obvious way to add some punch to the GT86 would be with a turbocharger, and that has indeed long been rumored for an STI version of the BRZ. Will Toyota follow suit? According to Top Gear, the answer is no. Says GT86 chief engineer Tetsuya Tada, "I think 300bhp with a turbo and 200g/km of CO2 would be tasteless in this day and age. And a turbo would mean the loss of the GT86's uniqueness." Perhaps a bit harsh, but there you go.

Toyota CEO Lentz still envisions Scion as a small premium brand

Ward's Auto has published a piece on Scion that further confirms that we really have no idea what to expect from the brand. In speaking with Toyota USA CEO Jim Lentz about what was once firmly intended to be a hip, experimental youth brand, Lentz said, "I still personally believe small-premium is the direction we should be going." We'll walk right on by Lentz's use of the word "still" and focus on "small-premium" with the question: How? As much as we dig the FR-S, nothing in the brand's lineup can get within a whiff of the word "premium." It's even further away from being able to sniff the lifestyle-powered exhaust of a Mini or Fiat 500, and the production version of the forthcoming IM Concept (inset) will only draw it closer to its plain vanilla parent. Of course, Scion could head the premium way, but the amount of time and money needed to make it work would seem to go against everything the brand currently stands for. The murk stays just as murky when Lentz's words are placed next to those of Scion brand VP Doug Murtha, who spoke to Ward's at a different time. Murtha's response to the "small-premium" note was, "He may be having discussions at levels I'm not," and that such intent is "probably a longer-term proposition than we're looking at right now," with planning under way out to 2025. We're already being prepared for the iM to come in under $20,000, which will ensure the "attainability factor" of the "younger audience" that Murtha still views as Scion's base. And at the moment, Murtha is probably focused on adding desirability to the current lineup, halting the 14-percent year-over-year sales slide to a point that's just over half the annual volume necessary for profitability, and making sure he and his dealers have the support necessary to make the required splash with new product. Aside from all that, what might we expect? We know there'll be another product shown along with the production IM at the 2015 New York Auto Show, and Murtha isn't against a small crossover if they can come up with "something appropriately Scion-esque." So... there's that.