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Photo by Flora Hanitijo

For years, the transactions that took place between car companies and car buyers were simple: you give them a brick of cash, they give you a car. And come back when you need an oil change.

Toyota’s Scion brand was one of the first to realize there could be, and ought to be, much more to this exchange. “A consumer has a million choices when it comes to a car purchase,” says Jeri Yoshizu, Scion’s thirtysomething sales and promotions manager and one of the original team of five responsible for their marketing coup. She and her team decided to go ultra-niche and target a car for the hip-hop-listening, art-appreciating, urban consumer.

To that end, Scion throws over 60 events every year, like hip-hop shows with RZA and Grandmaster Flash and annual art tours with artists like Blek Le Rat, Cody Hudson, Jeff Soto, and David Choe. They’ve become a patron of the urban underground. And that underground—always ready to leverage accusations of selling out—has welcomed Scion with an eagerness that surprised the brand itself.

Since Toyota launched three distinct models under the Scion label in 2003, the growth of the brand has been nothing short of spectacular. In their ’04 fiscal year, they hoped to sell 75,000 cars; the actual number was closer to 100,000. The following year they sold over 150,000 units, and by last year the number had crept to 173,034 units.

Under Yoshizu’s watchful eye, Scion’s marketing has managed not to play any false notes. A step ahead of the mainstream, Yoshizu stays attuned to what Scion’s customers want, what they listen to, what websites they visit, and what they wear. (Most recent daring move: Dropping MySpace for Second Life—premature or prescient?)

“I would like Scion to be a leader within the corporate community, to lead by example of how businesses should be taking a more active role within the artistic communities,” says Yoshizu. “Scion can [be] a louder voice on the integrity of artists.”