Scion Hako Concept

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What is it?
Scion Hako Concept

What's special about it?
"This concept is the sporty version of a box." Well, that's how Scion vice president Jack Hollis describes the Scion Hako concept, the latest effort from this youth-oriented division of Toyota. To our eyes, it looks more like a child's Tonka toy — blocky and bold, with narrow slits for headlamps and a voracious maw of a grille. With its vertical windshield and abbreviated greenhouse, it's got a vaguely retro vibe as well, and rather resembles a modern take on a '32 Ford Victoria hot rod.

The vintage trend is hardly new for American youth, but it's just beginning to catch on in Tokyo. It was this movement that inspired the look of the Scion Hako concept. The car shares much in common with the xB, but it's less cute and more brute. It owes this overall aesthetic to touches like racecar-inspired outside mirrors, deep-dish 18-inch wheels, plus tires with a Scion custom tread.

The Scion Hako coupe might be vaguely old school on the outside, but its cabin is thoroughly modern. There's lots of bright orange paint and shiny metallic detailing, and the seats incorporate urethane and rubber for easy cleaning. The car's controls are game-console inspired. Its shifter calls to mind a huge joystick, and a track ball — located on the car's dash — governs the Hako's entertainment system. Said entertainment system consists of two dash-mounted video screens offering radio, video and music capabilities. Music and video may be uploaded via a Bluetooth connection. The front passenger can control the system via a dash-mounted rollerball.

Have you ever wanted to regale your friends with photos of your travels in the boxy car of your youth? No? Well, the Hako has got you covered anyway. Orange-filtered cameras located beneath the A-pillars project fish-eye images to video monitors found on each door and on each side of the car's rear seating area. When the vehicle is parked, these images may be edited and even posted online.

With an overall length of 145.7 inches, the Scion Hako concept is a good 20 or so inches shorter than its similarly square sibling, the xB — it is a two-door coupe to the xB's four-door wagon. At 68.1 inches, it's almost as wide as the xB, though. With room for four, the car has a height of 57.5 inches.

What's Edmunds' take?
Word on the street is that the Hako may serve as the blueprint for the car that ultimately replaces the tC. We hope not; one breadbox in the Scion lineup is enough. — Warren Clarke, Automotive Content Editor