Kinto Launches in Japan

Toyota has teamed up with Sumitomo Mitsui Auto Service Company to launch a new car subscription brand in Japan. The jointly funded brand – Kinto – will offer two services: Kinto One, which allows customers to drive one Toyota-brand vehicle over a three-year period, and Kinto Select, which allows customers to drive six models of Lexus-brand vehicles over a three-year period. Both services are offered as a monthly fixed-sum service that packages voluntary insurance payments, vehicle tax, registration charges, and regularly scheduled maintenance of the vehicle.

In addition to the traditional subscription service, Kinto is planning to introduce a feature that will “award points to customers based on their vehicle usage such as for safe or ecological driving,” which can be applied toward payments.

“As society shifts from conventional car ownership to car usage that can be enjoyed wherever and as much as users would like, there is a growing need for a service that allows customers to freely select the car that they like or want to drive and enjoy it as they like, instead of using a car simply as a means of transportation” – Toyota.