Scion Buyers Don't Want Hybrids

Don't expect Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc.'s youth-oriented Scion brand to offer hybrid-electric vehicles anytime soon.

In fact, Jim Lentz, executive vice president-TMSUSA, says Scion owners are even less interested in HEVs now than when the brand first was established in 2004.

“If you ask a young buyer if they are interested in hybrids, they say absolutely,” Lentz tells Ward's. “And then you ask a buyer if you had $2,000 to pay, would you buy wheels, (an upgraded) audio (system), or (a) hybrid (powertrain)? Hybrid finishes third.”

He says Toyota surveys younger consumers on the issue regularly, and recent results show no increase in their willingness to pay for hybrid technology.

Toyota also has been conducting surveys on consumer acceptance of diesel engines, but Lentz says he doesn't know if the results show any preference based on age.

“My gut feel is that younger buyers are going to be accepting of diesel, because they weren't around during the 1980s when we had some not-so-nice diesels in the marketplace,” he says, adding younger car buyers probably are most familiar with the engines via Volkswagen AG, whose diesels he calls “pretty nice.”