Toyota’s new Scion brand in the United States is apparently finding the youthful owners the new two-model range is targeting are difficult to please.
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According to WardsAuto.com, many buyers, particularly in the Gulf States in the south-east, have discovered that the air conditioning in their box-shaped new xBs is not up to the job.
The a/c, Scion vice president Jim Farley told the motor trade website, is “challenged” in the surprise hit market of Texas, where humidity often soars as high as the temperatures.
Farley reportedly said Scion had been talking to Japan, where the xB is built, regarding detailed changes to the compressor and ventilation systems.
“It’s not an easy problem to fix,” Farley told WardsAuto.com, “given it’s a 1.5L engine and it’s a relatively large car.”
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By GlobalDataWardsAuto.com added that Farley attributes the problem not only to the weak air conditioning system but also to the young demographic – which he says is a lot pickier. Older Scion buyers – the over-35 set – reportedly have voiced few complaints about the vehicle’s cabin temperature.
This tendency for Scion’s coveted youthful demographic to raise their voices in complaint also punished Scion in its first-ever JD Power Initial Quality Survey, released recently, the report noted.
According to WardsAuto.com, Scion dragged down parent company and perennial frontrunner Toyota with a reported 158 problems per hundred vehicles – the mean brand score was 199, while Toyota’s combined brands, which include Lexus and Scion, scored 101.
Farley told the website internal reports indicate that the younger-than-35 consumer has a tendency to complain more, at least about initial quality, and added that studies suggest a mean problems-per-hundred score for younger consumers would be in the 140s.
