- Toyota is reviving the Scion brand as a “mobility company” that will serve as a testing ground for Toyota, a company chief engineer said.
- Toyota first marked the brand’s revival with the Scion 01 concept at the 2025 SEMA show in November.
- Don Federico, the concept’s chief engineer, spoke to Road and rail about the future of the brand and how the Scion 01 fits into the picture.
Mobility this, mobility that. Automakers like to talk about mobility and how they are more than just car companies – little more than Toyota, which has been beating the mobility drum for years. At least now Toyota seems to be having fun with the idea. In November, Toyota unveiled the Scion 01 concept to signal the revival of the brand that disappeared in 2016. Don Federico, the chief engineer of the Scion concept, spoke to our friends at Road and rail during a recent media event about what’s in store for the revived automaker.
“We’re bringing it back as an opportunity for mobility,” Federico told the outlet. “Our chairman, Akio Toyoda, famously said ‘we’re going to be a mobility company,’ so you see some mobility products here, and this is maybe the brand could transport the vehicles for us. Not traditional vehicles.”
According to Federico, the brand is focused on returning to its roots, which in his view means that the company will be used as a test laboratory for Toyota. That original concept seems to support his idea. The Scion 01 concept takes the Tacoma pickup’s turbocharged four-cylinder hybrid powertrain and puts it in a side-by-side.
How cool the original concept is, Federico said R&T don’t strictly expect off-roaders from the brand, although he cautioned against hoping for a reborn tC. “That would be a Toyota,” he said.
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Jack Fitzgerald’s love for cars stems from his still unshakable addiction to Formula 1.
After a brief stint as a detailer for a local dealer group in college, he knew he needed a more permanent way to drive all the new cars he couldn’t afford, and decided to pursue a career in automotive writing. By chasing down his college professors at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, he was able to travel across Wisconsin in search of stories about the automotive world before landing his dream job at Car and driver. His new goal is to delay the inevitable demise of his 2010 Volkswagen Golf.
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