Toyota Motor Europe (TME) has started KINTO Europe GmbH, a limited liability company with headquarters in Cologne, Germany. Toyota Financial Services Corporation (TFSC), Japan, holds 51% of the company’s shares, with the remaining 49% owned by TME. Both TME and TFSC are wholly owned by Toyota Motor Corporation, based in Japan. KINTO Europe is headed by CEO Tom Fux.

In addition to hosting Full Service Lease activities, KINTO Europe GmbH will also accommodate other KINTO-branded mobility services developed by Toyota. KINTO Europe will oversee services such as car subscriptions, car sharing, car-pooling and multi-modal solutions, tailored to suit businesses, organizations, cities and private individuals.

Toyota said that as it transitions from being a car manufacturer to becoming a mobility company, KINTO is leading the way to grow the company’s total European business by adding new and innovative mobility services to its core business of manufacturing, selling cars and providing a memorable customer experience.

Toyota’s European strong retailer network will continue to play a key role in the ongoing shift from ownership to on-demand usership.

Our vision is to be the preferred service provider for each mobility need. To that end, we are building our own roadmap as there is simply no predefined approach. We are confident that we have unique strengths and capabilities that differentiate us from other players in the mobility space. KINTO is not one single service or product bound by any one location. Instead, we aim at providing a one-stop-shop mobility solution for all customers by proposing a truly diversified range of services, from vehicle leasing and subscriptions to full usership like car-sharing, car-pooling and beyond, towards asset-free mobility services.

—Tom Fux

The roadmap includes market-by-market deployment of KINTO-branded services across Europe. In order to consolidate these ambitious expansion plans and implement the appropriate levels of local mobility services, the company’s five main markets have either established their own dedicated KINTO organizations either they are in the process of registering: KINTO España S.L. (Spain); KINTO Italia SpA (Italy); KINTO Deutschland GmbH (Germany); and KINTO France SAS (France). KINTO UK already exists since mid-last year, after the business acquired Inchcape Fleet Solutions (IFS).

In Europe, KINTO is already active in nine countries: Germany, Italy, France, Spain, UK, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Portugal and is expanding quickly.

KINTO will be offering six services:

• KINTO One - all-inclusive leasing service

• KINTO Flex - flexible vehicle subscription service

• KINTO Share – car sharing services, from corporate to public and residential customers

• KINTO Ride – ride-hailing service

• KINTO Join - corporate car-pooling solution for employees

• KINTO Go - multi-modal aggregator, coordinating services such as journey planning, public transport ticketing and parking

All services will be supplemented by KINTO Protect, a range of mobility focused insurance, warranty and restitution products provided by Toyota Insurance Services (TIS).

KINTO is derived from the Japanese word Kintoun or Flying nimbus, a magical, yellow cloud which provides on-demand transportation for a famous animated character in Japan. Just like Kintoun, KINTO wants to be available every time a customer looks for easy and clever ways to move around, whenever, wherever.