Toyota brings back Scion with off-road concept, signalling new a direction beyond cars for the excised brand

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When you think of Scion, the quirky brand that Toyota killed a decade ago, the words fun and rugged probably don’t leap to mind.

Maybe small, affordable or boxy are the words you would choose, although it did make a fun sports car.

But Scion is back, not as a cute city car, but as a concept off-road vehicle, signalling a new direction for the brand.

“We’re getting back to the roots of Scion, which was supposed to be this test laboratory,” said Don Federico, Toyota North America’s vice-president of vehicle performance development. “This may be the brand that could carry [mobility products] that are not traditional vehicles.”

That might include the Scion 01, Toyota’s first try at a side-by-side utility terrain vehicle (UTV), a class that includes the Polaris RZR, Can-Am Maverick and Honda Pioneer.

It uses the Tacoma’s hybrid powertrain, which includes a 1.8-kilowatt-hour battery, turbocharged 2.4-litre four-cylinder engine and eight-speed transmission.

“We would most likely have hybrid and non-hybrid variants,” Federico said. “There are EV side-by-sides. Polaris makes one. There isn’t a hybrid at the moment.”

Toyota first unveiled the concept in November at SEMA, a Las Vegas trade show focused on aftermarket and off-road vehicles.

In a demonstration at the Japanese automaker’s recently updated Arizona Proving Grounds last month, the Scion 01 was surprisingly quiet, despite some engine revving.

“We call that silent mode. It can go a few miles on EV only [at lower speeds],” Federico said. “It can get you out of the neighbourhood, let the kids sneak it out of the driveway, or [you can] sneak up on that big buck you’re hunting.”

The hybrid powertrain includes a 1,500-watt inverter, he said, which could be used for power at a campsite, for instance.

It also boasts more than 325 horsepower and 450 lb-ft of torque, Federico said. It weighs roughly 3,000 pounds – 1,500 pounds less than the Tacoma hybrid, he said.

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‘Horsepower war’

Could that be too much horsepower for an off-road vehicle?

“We don’t think so,” Federico said. “The real reason Toyota was triggered to develop this was [because] there’s a horsepower war happening in these products. They’ve increased 100 horsepower in the last 10 years.”

For instance, Polaris’s top-tier RZR Pro R has 225 horsepower – and that could get higher if the company were to offer a turbo version, he said.

While some U.S. jurisdictions allow UTVs on roads, the Scion 01 is designed as an off-road-only vehicle and doesn’t have airbags, Federico said.

“It has really great harnesses,” he said. “I’m sure it’ll have a big sticker right on it, like all the others do [saying that you can’t drive it on public roads].”

The roll cage complies with international off-road racing safety standards, he said.

Could all those details signal more than just an experiment? Toyota wouldn’t say whether the Scion 01 will make it to production or how much it might cost.

But Federico said it would likely be competitive with top-end rivals. The RZR Pro R, for instance, starts at just under $57,000.

Toyota has saved costs because roughly half of the parts are off-the-shelf, he said.

“The brakes are off of our Camry, the hubs are off the Highlander. We’re using electric power steering from a Corolla,” he said. “It makes it much cheaper. We make four million Camry brakes a year, so all the investment is done.”

It’s also not clear whether it would be sold in Canada, a Toyota Canada spokesman said.

Several industry analysts expect the UTV and all-terrain vehicle (ATV) market to grow steadily over the next few years.

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Off brand?

Toyota first unveiled the concept in November at SEMA, a Las Vegas trade show focused on aftermarket and off-road vehicles.

If Toyota does sell it, it might be under the Scion brand, Federico said. Originally, Scion – which launched in the U.S. in 2002 and then in Canada in 2010 – was intended to appeal to younger buyers. It was folded back into Toyota in 2016. So why revive it now?

“Scion was a brand that really showcased innovation … and introduced new products into the market," Federico said, citing Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda’s view that the company should think beyond conventional passenger cars.

That could include smaller vehicles that wouldn’t normally fit under the Toyota brand, Federico said. But he wouldn’t specifically say what those vehicles might be.

“This is our new test laboratory,” he said, adding that the company hasn’t decided whether the vehicles would be sold through Toyota dealerships. “It’s all a blank slate.”

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The writer was a guest of the automaker. Content was not subject to approval.