Bazooka sub woofers, underseat neon lighting kits and cupholders that change colour may not sound like standard vehicle accessories. But for Toyota, they are part of the idea behind the launch of a bold new experiment - a car for the youth market, writes Jeremy Grant
This week the Japanese carmaker put on sale in California a new vehicle brand it has developed called the Scion. The vehicle - which to more mature eyes is no more than a box on wheels - represents the boldest attempt yet by car-makers in the US to go after the so-called Generation Y youth market. That is, people aged between 16 and 24.
This age group has recently become one of the most attractive targets for US car-makers, which are stuck with an ageing buyer demographic, and desperate to find the next generation of customers for their vehicles to ensure growth in an intensely competitive market. The Scion aims to tap into the hottest part of that market, the so-called "youth hot rod" culture that has emerged from the "drag races" that have cropped up in ethnically diverse urban areas of southern California over the past three years.
That involved teenagers buying second-hand cars, usually Japanese models, and adding modifications like air intakes, beefier engines and lowering the suspension. Toyota says the Scion's appeal is based partly on the buyer's ability to tailor-make the vehicle, mirroring how the hot-rodders have been treating their second-hand vehicles. "This group of people doesn't like to be 'sold to'. They have grown up with saturation marketing all their lives," says Ming-jou Chen, Scion spokeswoman.
Toyota has shunned traditional advertising to reach its target market, using instead "guerrilla marketing" tactics such as pinning posters to telephone poles and nightclub walls. Little-known underground graffiti artists and disc jockeys have been recruited to spread the word.
An unorthodox approach is also being taken towards selling the vehicles, with dealers holding little or no inventory, as is customary in the industry. Instead, Toyota has set up special distribution centres where each vehicle will be fitted with a range of up to 50 accessories according to the buyer's specifications. They can be e-mailed from the Scion website. Each vehicle will cost about $12,000 (€10,200)
However, there are doubts in the industry whether any car-maker will have as much success with Generation Y as they hope. Some observers point out that tastes change fast in this age group.
That is perhaps why Toyota is hedging its bets and targeting 30-year-olds in its marketing campaign.
Ms Chen says: "Research shows that older buyers will buy products that younger people endorse."