Looks like Reuters (also picked up by Yahoo! and CNN) covered Scion’s ‘08 model lineup release this morning “Toyota launched a redesigned Scion xB and a new model called the xD in Second Life — an online community with 1.2 million “residents” — and at the Chicago Auto Show on Thursday, holding simultaneous press conferences in both the real and virtual worlds.”

I’m personally excited about the new xB and xD. Unsurprisingly, I love the styling of the new xB. It’s still has that iconic Scion boxy look, but now with a little bit more aggressiveness to it.

However, what I found most exciting about Scion’s support of Second Life is the potential that Second Life residents can influence potentially not only on Scion but Toyota. From the Yahoo article:

But Toyota Motor North America president Jim Press last year said he is not worried about Scion sales, calling the brand the automaker’s “incubator.”

If Toyota see’s Scion as an incubator and Scion see’s Second Life as a way to “connect with the trendsetters”, it only stands to reason that we all have an ability to influence not only where Scion goes but also Toyota with their product development. How exciting is that!?

Edit: Added link to CNN

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 8th, 2007 at 11:04 pm and is filed under Chris' Thoughts (twitter: classonde), Press Coverage, Virtual Whirls. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.