#JackHollis

With its first true sports car heading to dealerships in June, Scion is looking to beef up its motorsports presence admits brand boss Jack Hollis.

Speaking at a press launch for the new rear-wheel drive FR-S in Las Vegas, Hollis commented Scion’s continued presence in Formula Drift and how the FR-S is making the brand more “authentic.”

“Let’s be honest,” said Hollis to the gatherer journalists, “with the TC we’ve done more than we authentically should have” referring of course to its transformation into a rear-drive NASCAR V8 powered drift machine. Scion now campaigns the FR-S in drifting, Greddy-built FR-S driven by Ken Gushi.

As much as the drifting scene suits the Scion brand’s sport compact origins, many motorsports enthusiasts consider it to be less of a form of motorsports and more of a spectacle. With the FR-S having all the makings of a budget road racer, when pressed, Hollis elaborated on the future of Scion in motorsports.

“Drifting is something we’ve been enjoying,” he said, and commented that Scion will take the next step into traditional competitive motorsports thanks to the FR-S. “We’re expanding our lineup and you should expect that we will expand our racing teams’ influence and participation.”

The first 86 people in North America to own a Scion FR-S are pretty lucky as it is, but their deal just got a lot sweeter thanks to some VIP treatment from Toyota.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock that’s inside a cave the last couple of months, you might have heard of the Toyota GT 86 which will be coming to America as the Scion FR-S. But in case you haven’t heard of the FR-S (you can read our review here), Scion went out and shot a commercial recently with drifter Ken Gushi behind the wheel.

In the midst of launching its iQ mini-car and in preparation of the massive spike in exposure the brand will get from the FR-S sports car, Scion VP Jack Hollis is already looking into the distant future. “We are currently working on several different concepts,” he says sitting in the back seat of a highly customized xB at the SEMA Show.

When the Scion iQ city car goes on sale this October it will be offered exclusively with a CVT transmission. That, however, is likely to change admits brand boss Jack Hollis

Scion is lowering its expectations for the new 2011 tC, announcing sales targets below what the youth-oriented brand was targeting earlier this year. According to brand VP Jack Hollis, Scion is now hoping to sell between 35,000 to 45,000 of the cars – down from a 40,000 to 50,000 estimate in March.

Toyota’s hybrid technology is too expensive to be used in Scion models says brand VP Jack Hollis. In an interview with Ward’s Auto, Hollis explained that a hybrid Scion model would essentially be out of the price range of the brand’s target demographic. Scion works to keep all its cars at, or starting at, under the $20,000 mark.

Toyota’s youth-oriented Scion brand is open to the possibility of a pickup truck model says brand manager Jack Hollis. In an interview with Ward’s Hollis admitted that a compact pickup might fit well in the Scion brand, a reversal on previous statements that pickups are out of the question.

The Scion brand is all about being youthful, modern and relevant. But apparently no one told that to the tC. Once a rival to Honda’s Civic Coupe, the tC has outlived its stay with (so far) a six year production cycle. As the brand’s flagship it has even been surpassed by the edgy xB.

First shown as a concept (above) at the New York Auto Show earlier this year, Scion will reportedly bring the iQ to market by the Fall of 2010.