Scion has been gone from American showrooms since 2016, but Toyota keeps leaving clues that the name isn’t just for show anymore. A fresh batch of U.S. trademark applications, filed on October 15, 2026, covers the Scion name for cars, EVs, trucks, motorcycles and ATVs. For the first time, the filings also cover vehicle dealerships. Here’s what the paperwork actually says, and where the guessing starts.
Toyota filed four Scion applications on the same day
On October 15, 2026, Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation in Japan) filed two U.S. applications for “SCION BY TOYOTA,” serial numbers 50163640 and 50163938. That same day, through the same attorney, it filed two more for the plain “SCION” name, serial numbers 50163925 and 50163933, as the attorney’s filing list and record 50163933 show.
The Class 12 goods list is wide open. According to the USPTO record via Trademarkia, it names “automobiles,” “electrically powered motor vehicles,” trucks, motorcycles, electric bicycles and all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), and it even stretches to boats and ships. The applications also claim Class 35 for “dealerships in the field of vehicles,” per record 50163933. Every record we checked was filed on an intent-to-use basis, and none has been assigned to an examiner yet (record 50163938 is a good example).
There may be a new logo in the mix, too. CarMoses reports that one of the “Scion by Toyota” applications includes block “SCION” lettering with a small “BY TOYOTA” underneath, styled like the script on the Scion 01 concept’s doors.
Why does “intent to use” matter? It means Toyota is telling the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that it plans to sell products under these names. It is not saying it already does. Before any of these marks can register, Toyota has to show them in real commercial use.
Why the dealership part is the interesting bit
Automakers file broad trademark lists all the time to protect a name. The goods list here even runs to ships, so reading too much into it would be a mistake. The retail-services class is different, though. It protects the Scion name for actually selling vehicles, and it appears alongside the vehicle class on every Scion record we checked.
How Scion would actually reach buyers is still an open question. Back in January, Scion 01 chief engineer Don Federico said Toyota hadn’t decided whether a production Scion would be sold through Toyota dealers, calling it “a blank slate,” according to CarMoses. Our read: if Scion does come back as a product, a dealership claim would let Toyota sell it in a Scion-branded store or in a corner of existing Toyota stores. The filing doesn’t say which, and Toyota hasn’t commented.
The only Scion product Toyota has shown: the Scion 01
Toyota brought the Scion name back at the 2025 SEMA Show on the Scion 01 Concept, a hybrid side-by-side off-roader, and the Toyota USA Newsroom made a point of saying it was not for sale.
Federico has since described the new Scion as a “test laboratory” for mobility products, including “things that aren’t vehicles,” and said he was “trying to build a case” for putting the 01 into production, Carscoops reported, citing Road & Track.
The filings themselves name no specific vehicle. The ATV entry in the goods list would fit a production version of the Scion 01 nicely, but that’s our inference, not something Toyota has said.
A quick Scion refresher
Toyota shut down the Scion brand in February 2016, about 13 years after it launched, with a lineup that included the xB, tC, xD and FR-S (Carscoops). A few of those cars simply swapped badges: as CarMoses recounts, the FR-S became the Toyota 86, the iA became the Yaris iA and the iM became the Corolla iM.
What’s confirmed
- Toyota filed four U.S. applications on October 15, 2026: two for “SCION BY TOYOTA” (50163640 and 50163938) and two for “SCION” (50163925 and 50163933).
- The USPTO records cover vehicles, including automobiles, EVs, trucks, motorcycles, e-bikes and ATVs, and the “SCION” filings add vehicle dealerships.
- They’re intent-to-use filings and still pending, so nothing has been approved. Record 50163938 hasn’t even reached an examiner.
- The Scion 01 side-by-side is still officially a concept that isn’t for sale, as the Toyota USA Newsroom put it.
What’s rumored or reported
- CarMoses reports that one “Scion by Toyota” application carries a logo modeled on the Scion 01’s door script.
- Federico says he’s trying to build a case for a production 01, per Carscoops, but whether a production Scion 01, or any other Scion product, will actually go on sale in the U.S. is still unknown.
- Nobody knows yet whether Scion products would be sold through Toyota dealers, powersports dealers or separate stores. Federico’s “blank slate” comment is the latest word.
- There’s no pricing, specs or launch date for a production Scion. Toyota hasn’t announced any, and we won’t guess.
What to watch next
The 2026 SEMA Show opens in Las Vegas on November 3, a year after the Scion 01 first appeared there, as CarMoses points out. If Toyota is ready to say more about Scion, SEMA is the obvious stage. Until then, keep in mind that a trademark reserves a name. It is not a product plan, and USPTO examination can take months and can end in a refusal.
Featured image: Michael Sheehan via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Front_Scion_Emblem_-_2014_Scion_tC_(15230161334).jpg), CC BY 2.0.
