• The Wall Street Journal (subscription required), Friday, November 10, 2006 11:30 AM

As part of a marketing strategy to keep its youth-focused Scion cool, Toyota plans to throttle back production to keep sales from going above 150,000 vehicles next year. It is on track to exceed that amount by 25,000 cars in 2006. One analyst says it could sell as many as 250,000 vehicles a year if production controls were lifted.

For Toyota, Scion's importance isn't so much added volume as it is bridging the gap to younger buyers, who consider the company's mainline Toyota brand vehicles too stodgy. About 80% of people who buy a Scion have never had a Toyota.

Scion may abandon its already limited TV advertising altogether, so it can focus more on experiential marketing. It is so concerned about being up to the moment that it has moved its online social-networking marketing focus from MySpace.com to secondlife.com, viewing the News Corp. property as too mainstream.

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