Toyota is scrapping its youth-oriented Scion brand

Toyota’s Scion brand is going the way of Oldsmobile, Mercury and Tucker.

Toyota will scrap the youth-oriented nameplate. Certain Scions will be rebadged as Toyotas. Some Scion employees will continue to work for the parent company.

The Japanese car giant characterized the news as the end of a triumphant period in which the perky, inexpensive Scions brought new customers to the brand and introduced a generation of buyers to Toyota.

But those customers have grown up, Toyota said, and now prefer Toyota cars and can pay Toyota prices.

“We could not have achieved the success we have had without the incredible support of Scion’s customers, dealers and team members, so supporting them throughout this transition process will be one of our top priorities,” said Jim Lentz, the executive who began Scion and later rose to CEO of Toyota’s North American operations. “This isn’t a step backward for Scion; it’s a leap forward for Toyota.”

Toyota said it had sold a little over 1 million Scions during the brand’s 2003-15 lifespan. The best sellers, accounting for about three-quarters of all sales, were the xB and tC models.

Some 2017 Scions will become Toyotas, including the FR-S sports car, iA sedan and iM hatchback. The new C-HR will continue as a Toyota. But the popular tC sports coupe will end production and not return.

Kelley Blue Book analyst Karl Brauer called the event historic.

“We’re used to seeing domestic brands like Mercury, Oldsmobile and Plymouth die . but this is the first time a U.S.-specific brand, launched by a successful Japanese automaker, has been killed,” he said.