Scion to Reveal Updated xB and All-New xD in Chicago

News about the Chicago Auto Show is flying fast and furious now. Scion, Toyota’s hip offshoot, will debut a redesigned version of its popular xB and the all-new xD — which replaces the outgoing and not-so-popular xA — in Chicago next month. This is huge news for the Chicago show, and we should be hearing more about other debuts as we get closer to the media preview days of Feb 7 and 8.

If you can’t make it to Chicago and enjoy the virtual game Second Life, the company will also be holding a virtual press conference in that game environment simultaneously to the in-the-flesh event we’ll be attending. Ah, the digital age. 

Comments

Those cars will probably have less horsepower than a typical lawnmower. I will never understand why people love Scions.

Simple reasons Alex N. They don't break the bank, have excellent resale value, great gas mileage and are reliable (put together right). Oh yeah.... They also don't look like everything else on the road. I'll take those qualities over horse power any day.

So, how is selling over 32k xA's, numbers up almost 17% from the previous year "not-so-popular"?

Granted, that's just over half the numbers of the xB and well under that for the tC, but Scion sells out every car they make for the US. They've also taken the philosophy that production allocations will be capped, so that it generates demand, since they're somewhat limited in availability.

compare 32,000 a year to a Chevrolet Cobalt that sold 211,449 units in 2006, and was #10 on the best sellers of 2006...xA is in reality a slow seller due to the unattractive looks.

Tony C,
Even Toyota admits they totally got the estimates of the xA vs. xB wrong when Scion launched. Originally the xA was looking to sell twice as much as the xB when the reverse happened. Also they don't have many on lots on purpose, toyota does an excellent job with its allotment of vehicles as does Honda.

I don't think the xA's slow sales have anything to do with looks but the new Yaris pretty much steals from its sales as well and there's more in that segment in 2006 than there was in 2004.

All that said I'm interested to see what the xD is!

Toyota built 32,000 xA's and they sold 32,000 xA's, a car is a success based on the percentage of production sold, if 300,000 of a car are produced, and 250,000 of them sell, then it is viewed (from the manufacturer's perspective) as a failure. And as for the perceived lack of power from the Scions, the new xB will be using the 2.4L 4-cyl from the tC/Camry/Solara/Rav4/Highlander, which makes 158-163 hp depending on the model and the xA will being used the next-gen 1.8L 4-cyl that will be used in the next-gen Corolla. Plus all the performance goodies available from Scion can give you a boost in power too.

Keep in mind that horsepower is relative to your driving conditions. Doesn't do you much good to have 200+ horsepower when you're stuck in city traffic and top speed is 30 mph. But more importantly, torque is what you look for when it comes to fast take-offs. Gear ratio is what you care about when it comes to climbing hills. Just about any 500 cc motorcycle can beat a 200+ horespower car at the light and out excelerate in an uphill climb. My little xB [with manual transmission] can beat out most big engine vehicles at a light and has no problem keeping up in the passing lane up a long grade. Plus the xB has more room and gives a driver more fun than most other vehicles on the road for little money and little pain at the gas pump. It's the wave of the future. Accept it.

Does anyone have any inside info on what the MSRP's will be for the new Scion xD and the xB? Here's to hoping Toyota keeps both of these models affordable for those who seek reliability and affordability wrapped up in a nice package.

Jennifer,
Toyota has been very tight with price announcements so don't expect them until very close to the on sale date. the xB goes on sale in April, the xD in August. We usually post price announcements the day they hit the wire if not the hour they hit the wire. So check back or add our RSS feed.
Our guess would have the xD in the $13-$15K range to start and the xB in the $15-$17K range.