According to The Detroit Bureau, Scion blames Japanese part supply shortages from Toyota for the postponement of their iQ minicar. In Europe, the iQ model has been sold under the Toyota brand and now the car should arrive on the American market as the smallest car in the field.
Scion had plans to profit from the rising fuel prices by selling the model in the States, but their hopes and dreams were shattered by the earthquake that hit Japan.
Jack Hollis, Scion General Manager, said “The iQ launch will be later than we originally planned.”
The official debut of the car in the US is still uncertain, as a senior company source explains that at this point the situation is simply too fluid to be able to set a time for the official debut, but things should get back to normal in the third quarter of 2011.
After the earthquake, Toyota Japanese factories lost a whole month of production, which is the equivalent of 250,000 units. The production in Japan is currently working at half the possible capacity.
During a news conference at the 2011 New York Auto Show, Hollis explains that the iQ model is set to “define a new premium micro-subcompact segment.”
In order to meet the US safety demands, the Scion iQ will feature 11 airbags including a world premiere - a rear window curtain airbag designed to minimize injuries in a rear-end collision.
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