After years of reports indicating one thing, then the other, before swinging back to the first thing, neither a convertible nor a turbocharged variant of Scion's FR-S sports car will see the light of day. In an interview with WardsAuto, Scion senior vice president Doug Murtha states unequivocally that the FR-S will remain a coupe with a naturally aspirated, Subaru-sourced flat-four.
On the topic of the madly yearned-for turbocharged engine option, Murtha deadpanned: "That's not something that's coming." Ouch. As for the droptop variant (rendered above), it appears no business case could be made that didn't involve losing oodles of cash. According to WardsAuto, Murtha claims Scion "went down swinging" on that project.
Besides chilling the hearts of enthusiasts everywhere like cold November rain, the news that Scion failed to convince parent company Toyota—which sells the FR-S as the GT86 globally—to invest further in the FR-S signals that the model's future could be in turmoil.
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Recent word is that the FR-S and its Subaru-badged sibling, the BRZ, might not see a second generation, a future that grown ever more real in the case of massively slowed sales of the cars. As WardsAuto points out, the turbo FR-S and the droptop were intended to stanch the typical sales hemorrhaging every coupe experiences roughly two years into its life cycle. Guess how long the FR-S has been on sale? Yep, and Murtha adds that sales are indeed cooling. The only possible positive from this news? Deals on spankin'-new Scibarus down the road.
from Car and Driver Blog http://ift.tt/nSHy27
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