Free Republic

Abigail Disney:"Like all radical ideologues, the right wing has finally run amok and is coming to devour the hand that feeds it. Business. For my part I am delighted. It is the business world that has been, either by act or omission, feeding the opportunist right wing to distract"

Toyota is committing corporate filicide. The automaker has announced that it is killing its youth-oriented Scion brand and transitioning the models currently sold by the division to Toyota in August. Scion was launched in 2002 in an effort to attract younger car buyers to the Toyota fray, and was successful at that. Its average customer age of 36 is the lowest in the automotive industry, but its overall sales peaked at 173,034 in 2006 and were just 56,167 last year.

Toyota is killing its Scion brand after years of slumping sales. Beginning in August, 2017 model-year Scion vehicles will be rebadged as Toyotas. The FR-S sports car, iA sedan and iM 5-door hatchback, as well as the C-HR, which recently debuted at the L.A. Auto Show, will be a part of the Toyota line-up. The tC will have a final release series edition and end production in August, according to Toyota Motor Corp. Scion was formed in 2003 to attract younger buyers. [...] But there were multiple problems. The Millennials that the Scion was aiming for held back on big...

As the Toyota Scion of Scranton dealership continues to replace gas pedals on Toyotas recalled for unintended acceleration, managing partner Greg Gagorik depicted the automaker as a victim of a political hit. At a media event on Thursday at the dealership's new Scranton showroom and service center, Mr. Gagorik handed out lists of contributions by trial lawyers and the United Auto Workers union to congressmen who grilled Toyota executives last month over acceleration problems blamed for dozens of deaths. Mr. Gagorik attended those hearings, where the U.S. government's majority stake in General Motors hung heavy in the hall. "One day,...

DETROIT -- For the first time in nine years, all of the top picks in Consumer Reports' annual vehicle guide are made by Japanese automakers. The Honda Civic is the magazine's top small sedan, while the Toyota Highlander Hybrid is the top mid-sized sport utility vehicle, according to results released Wednesday. Vehicles from Nissan Motor Co. and Subaru, a division of Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., round out the top picks in 10 categories. Asian brands also fared best in the magazine's survey of vehicle reliability. Toyota Motor Corp.'s Lexus brand was first, while Honda was second and the Toyota brand...