Over 4 months before it was actually announced, we presciently wondered if Scion might join Saab, Mercury, Plymouth, Pontiac, Oldsmobile and so many others in the pantheon of defunct automotive brands. And, as we pondered the question of how existing Scion models would transition to the Toyota brand, we noted that U.S. trademarks for Auris […]

Back in 1992, Kazunori Yamauchi, along with a group of 7 other individuals, set out to develop the original Gran Turismo racing video game for the Polyphony Digital subsidiary of Sony Computer Entertainment. Five years later, the initial game, for the original PlayStation game console finally went on sale to favorable reviews and an adoring […]

Recently, Top Gear Philippines’ Editor-in-Chief Vernon B. Sarne (whom we were privileged to meet at the 2010 Paris Motor Show) was fortunate enough to interview Tetsuya Tada, Toyota’s chief engineer for the joint Toyota/Subaru sports car project that led to the widely acclaimed Subaru BRZ and its Toyota iterations variously badged as Scion FR-S, Toyota […]

May 3, 2012 – El Monte, CA – It’s been a long wait, but history has been made. The first Scion FR-S (a.k.a. Toyota 86 & GT 86 outside of North America & Subaru BRZ globally) has been delivered to the first lucky enthusiast of the “First 86 Program”. Earlier this year at the 2012 […]

Almost 2½ months ago, Kaizen Factor indulged in some of our much-loved Informed Speculation and attempted to delve into the specifics of The BRZ / FR-S / GT 86 transmissions and driveline. No sooner had we posted it, however, that Paul Williamsen, National Manager of Lexus College (this being the brand’s product training division, and […]

As the universally rave reviews come in and hoopla builds over the Subaru BRZ and its Toyota and Scion 86 / GT 86 / FR-S stablemates, the flip side of this popular acclaim becomes evident: a high demand/low supply situation. On March 6, Reuters reported that the first month’s worth of orders for the Japanese […]

During the years-long gestation of the so-called Toyobaru coupe, one of the favorite guessing games was how much or how little differentiation there would be between the Toyota/Scion and Subaru versions. As both were finally unveiled, we learned that there is far less distinction between the two than there was between the old-school Detroit 3 […]

Just as the 2012 Chicago Auto Show (whose Toyota-centic highlights were the U.S. debut of the facelifted Land Cruiser that is becoming ever more redundant versus the Lexus LX 570; pricing for the new Prius c; plans to bring all Toyota Highlander and Highlander Hybrid production to Princeton, Indiana in time for the expected 3rd-generation’s […]

As the final production iterations of the so-called “Toyobaru coupe” triplets (Toyota GT-86 [or, simply, 86], Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ) are finally rolled out for sampling by the world’s automotive press, the reviews are unanimous in their praise, and there is a clear consensus that the hard work of Subaru and Toyota engineers in […]

The Subaru BRZ and its Toyota sibling (badged Scion FR-S in North America, Toyota 86 in Japan and Toyota GT 86 elsewhere) have finally been officially launched and, in spite of its light for our era curb weight, the respectable 100 hp-per-liter power density of its FA20 2-liter naturally aspirated direct+port injection flat four and […]

For us plebeian non-subscribers of WardsAuto.com, an article by Christie Schweinsberg titled Scion Slates First Detroit Show News Conference; 3,000 Hand-Raisers for FR-S only included this introductory teaser: Within eight or nine days of clandestinely listing the FR-S on Scion.com’s homepage, the brand received requests for information from 3,000 hand-raisers. Intrigued, we headed over to […]

It was inevitable but the details continue to trickle in as anticipation builds for the long awaited, fun-to-drive, Toyota FT-86 (a.k.a Scion FR-S for us in North America). Just last week Toyota teased us with a video of a revamped FT-86 II for the 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show. It was just yesterday that Toyota unveiled […]

Although, to date, Toyota has only confirmed Prius Alpha/v/+, Plug-In and upcoming Prius c additions to the growing Prius family, rumors have been reported over the past couple of years of a Sport Coupe Prius as a later derivative, and the fanciful rendering above (from Japan’s Holiday Auto) certainly bears a Lexus LFA-meets-7th-generation Toyota Celica […]

An all-too-brief article by Mark Rechtin of Automotive News titled Why a Scion? Because scion said so contains a couple of interesting bits on the whole Scion vs Toyota branding debate surrounding the upcoming FR-S coupe engineered in conjunction with Subaru. For one, the decision went all the way to the top, to company scion […]

Everyone is anxiously awaiting the next “FUN” car to come from Toyota. Just last month  Toyota unveiled the Toyota FT-86 II Concept at the Geneva Motor Show. We’ve always wondered if we would get the FT-86 as a Toyota or something else. With this newest video teaser, it looks like Scion may get the highly […]