scion

Last week, CNET News' Stephen Shankland related the story of how the Scion public-relations team added me as a contact in Flickr. As he noted, "I thought it might be a marketing move, given that the Detroit auto show was under way, and indeed, a little digging showed that to be the case."

I likewise contacted the Flickr user, and here's the reply that I received (via the Yahoo.com address in their profile):

We saw you were on Flickr and, as a technology/online aficionado, we thought you might be interested in the new car. The … Read more

Wondering who that mysterious new Flickr contact is with all the slick product photos? Maybe it's a viral marketer.

That's what happened to Illuminata analyst and CNET blogger Gordon Haff earlier this week when Scion xB RS 6.0 added him as a Flickr contact. I thought it might be a marketing move, given that the Detroit auto show was under way, and indeed a little digging showed that to be the case.

"We are promoting the new Scion xB Release Series 6.0 vehicle online through a variety of social media avenues," said Kat Kirsch … Read more

With its limited number of models, a new car from Scion is a rare thing, so the company filled the information gap at the Detroit auto show with a special trim level for the xB. Dubbed Release Series (or RS) 6.0, this xB comes in a unique shade of red covering every exterior body panel and component, except the grille, which gets its own special black treatment. As with the standard model, the xB RS 6.0 is powered by an economical 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine.

The interior sees more custom treatment, with colored lights designed to match the … Read more

The days of keeping a library of tapes or CDs in your car are over. You walk around with an MP3 player, so why shouldn't you be able to use it in your car? Today's MP3 players can hold your entire music collection, so you don't have to decide which tunes to bring with you. Today's cars let you easily plug in an iPod or MP3 player and have full control over the device through voice command or the car's touch screen, and that's much safer than trying to manipulate the small controls on … Read more

Scion, Toyota's youth-oriented sub-brand, has made vehicle customization tantamount to the experience of purchasing and owning its vehicles. So at the world's largest aftermarket car parts show, SEMA is hot Las Vegas, you can bet that Scion had a big presence with some truly unique vehicles.

Models ranged from an xB pickup truck conversion to a wide-body tC. Oddly, we didn't see any examples of the xD.

View the full gallery of Scions at SEMA.

Five years after the Scion xB came out, a box car war is brewing with the debut of the production Kia Soul at the 2008 Paris Motor Show. Nissan will also take part with the introduction of the U.S.-bound Cube next year. Kia calls the Soul an urban crossover vehicle, but it doesn't seem likely people will start talking about UCVs. The production Soul retains much of the concept version's styling, shown this summer at the British motor show. The D-pillar retains its width, and flows into the tapering roof cap. The rear hatch also uses … Read more

Click here for more 2008 New York auto show coverage.

A number of companies showed off design concepts at the 2008 New York auto show, including the third in the Kizashi series from Suzuki, a rare one from Scion, and a coupe from Kia.

Click here for photos of concepts from the New York auto show.

Click here for more 2008 New York auto show coverage.

Amid all the news coming from the Geneva auto show, Scion slipped out a news release on what it will unveil at the upcoming New York auto show. The company released few details on the new concept, other than to write in the news release: "The sporty interpretation of the box concept was developed by Tokyo Design Division which studied global, youth-inspired trends." That statement could describe almost any Scion model.

We are looking forward to seeing the concept at the New York show because Scion concepts are few and far between. The picture Scion released is only … Read more