2005 Scion tC

Back in the Stone Age, when we Baby Boomers were young, protest seemed a way of life. If our parents did it, ate it, watched it - or drove it - we wanted something entirely different. It was the perfect opportunity for a struggling import automaker named Toyota. Whether intentional or otherwise, it won over the so-called counterculture, the postwar generation embracing its little import econoboxes.

Over the years, the Boomers have grown up with Toyota, but like us children of the '60s, Toyota's gotten a little gray around the edges. And for many of today's newest car buyers, the Japanese marque has morphed into the automotive establishment. Automakers are a fickle bunch, always worried about the next generation of buyers. Toyota officials realize that if they don't do something soon, the only folks shopping their showrooms will be ex-hippies on canes.