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Toyota officially launched Kinto, a company first unveiled at the end of last year that will run a car registration and other mobility service in Japan, including the sale and purchase used vehicles, as well as automotive repair and inspection.
Kinto is jointly funded by Toyota Financial Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of Toyota, and Sumitomo Mitsui Auto Service Company, a member of Sumitomo Corporation. The initial financing for Kinto is 1.8 billion yen, or about $ 16 million, according to Toyota.
The creation of Kinto marks a turning point that began a few years ago in the automotive industry to go beyond the traditional activity of producing, financing and selling cars and trucks. Other builders have been experimenting with car subscription services with mixed success. Volvo's Care by Volvo service was a great success. While Cadillac has closed its "Book by Cadillac" service, although it plans to restart.
Unlike other subscription programs, Kinto has gamified the service. The company plans to introduce this fall a service that will award points to customers based on their conduct. Toyota does not explain how safe or "green" driving would be monitored, but the badumption is that vehicles would be equipped with connected car technology to monitor driving. Points can be used for payments, the company said.
"As society evolves from conventional car ownership to usable car use where and as much as users desire, there is a growing need for a service allowing customers to freely choose the car that they like or want to drive and enjoy. as they wish, instead of using a car simply as a means of transportation, "Toyota said in its announcement.
Toyota Kinto will offer two subscription services in Japan. (The service is not intended for Europe or the United States.) Kinto One will allow customers to drive a Toyota brand vehicle over a period of three years. The service will provide access to the Prius, Corolla Sport, Alphard, Vellfire and Crown models. The range will expand by the fall of 2019. Customers opting for Kinto One will pay between 46,100 yen ($ 419) and 99,000 yen ($ 901) a month before taxes, based of the make of the vehicle.
'Kinto Select' will give customers access to six Lexus models brand vehicles over a period of three years. The Kinto Select service costs 180,000 yen, or $ 1,638 a month.
Both services will be offered as a monthly package service, including voluntary insurance payments, vehicle tax, registration fees and regular vehicle maintenance.
Kinto will be launched with the high-end plan from Wednesday. The Kinto One plan will be added as an option on March 1 st. Both services will be deployed on an experimental basis at select Toyota and Lexus dealers. dealers in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area. Kinto plans to roll out its services in the rest of Japan this summer.
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