Scion Slates First Detroit Show News Conference; 3,000 Hand-Raisers for FR-S

DETROIT – Toyota’s Scion youth brand will stage its first North American International Auto Show press conference in January at the annual event here.

Scion has held past press conferences only at the New York and Los Angeles auto shows.

Scion FR-S goes on sale summer 2012.

Jack Hollis, vice president-Scion, won’t tip his hand and say what product may debut in Detroit. But he tells WardsAuto to expect “added treats” on top of a newly designed Scion auto-show stand.

The Scion FR-S rear-wheel-drive sports car launches next summer in the U.S., but the production model will make its public debut before the Detroit show, Hollis says today on the sidelines of a Scion iQ drive here.

The concept FR-S was shown in April at the New York auto show.

Within eight or nine days of clandestinely listing the FR-S on Scion.com’s homepage, Hollis says the brand received requests for information from 3,000 hand-raisers. He calls it a good response for a niche vehicle with no advertising yet.

The FR-S, jointly developed by Toyota and Subaru, should “rewrite what a sports car can be,” Hollis tells media.

“It’s still a few months away, but I am pumped about where it will take Scion,” Hollis says, calling the car, which has Subaru’s naturally aspirated 2.0L 4-cyl. boxer engine, both a “daily driver and weekend warrior.”

The FR-S will be mechanically identical to the Subaru BRZ and will share a lot of sheet metal as well.

Subaru plans to sell the BRZ in the U.S., which Hollis says should make for an “interesting” situation, as it will compete with the FR-S.

Different interior features and certain exterior features, such as headlights and taillights, will set the two models apart.

Hollis told WardsAuto earlier this year a mid-$20,000 Scion, as the FR-S likely will be, won’t be a deterrent to the brand’s younger target audience, as lower starting prices typically appeal to older buyers, not the 20-somethings Scion is after.

Outside the U.S. the FR-S will be sold under the Toyota marque. Hollis believes the Toyota-badged RWD coupe will wear the name ’86.’

Both the Toyota variant and the Subaru BRZ are set to debut in production dress at the Tokyo motor show in late November or early December.

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