We saw a group of people comically going in and out of what appeared to be a backseat in this little car at the 2015 North American International Auto Show, and decided to have closer look.
DETROIT, MI – We saw a group of people comically going in and out of what appeared to be a backseat in this little car pictured above at the 2015 North American International Auto Show, and decided to have closer look.
Yes, further inspection of the Scion iQ shows the vehicle does have a backseat. Two of them, in fact.
The Scion iQ is a micro-car made by Toyota's youth-oriented brand, and it was aimed at competing with Daimler AG's Smart Automobile for tiny vehicles that could be ideal in some cozier urban settings.
MLive watched as people sat in the backseat of the car, then left little room for anyone riding in the front, and vice-versa. The specs on the vehicle from Scion say it has 28.6 inches of legroom in the rear, and 40.9 inches of legroom up front.
For comparison, Scion's sporty tC coupe has 34.6 inches in the back of the car and 41.7 inches in front. The length of an iQ is about 120 inches, while a TC is 176 inches long.
Regardless of how sit-able the iQ's backseat is or is not, the little car is not likely to be around much longer.
According to Bloomberg, Toyota Motor Corp. has decided to cease production of the Scion iQ because of lagging U.S. sales. Apparently not even 11 airbags and a corresponding four-star safety rating could assuage Americans' apprehensions of stuffing into such a tiny car.
Toyota sold just 2,040 Scion iQ's in the U.S. for all of 2014, a drop of 49.6 percent from the year before.
It leaves Scion with just four models, but it reportedly plans to introduce three new products over the next three years, including two in the back half of this year.
The Scion iQ was launched in 2008, but didn't' make its way to the U.S. market until 2011, after first making an appearance at the 2010 New York International Auto Show.
The 2015 model year iQ has a starting price of $15,665. Its 94-horsepower engine has an EPA rated fuel economy of 36 mpg city and 37 mpg highway.
David Muller is the automotive and business reporter for MLive Media Group in Detroit. Email him at dmuller@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter