Toyota Motor Europe’s (TME) Kinto Europe business has officially launched, bringing all the carmaker’s mobility services under one roof.

Toyota Motor Europe’s (TME) Kinto Europe business brings all the carmaker’s mobility services under one roof

Toyota announced plans at the start of 2020 to launch the dedicated mobility brand as part of its strategy to transition from a car-making to a mobility company and the new Kinto Europe business will manage a growing range of Kinto mobility services and products across the region.

Headquartered in Cologne, Germany and headed up by CEO Tom Fux, Kinto Europe GmbH is a limited liability company for which Toyota Financial Services Corporation (TFSC) in Japan holds 51% of the company’s shares, while the remaining 49% are owned by TME.

Kinto Europe GmbH will run all the full service lease activities previously covered by Toyota Fleet Mobility (TFM) – now dubbed Kinto One. But it will also accommodate all other Kinto-branded mobility services developed by Toyota. These range from car subscriptions, to car sharing, car-pooling and multi-modal solutions; all tailored to suit businesses, organisations, cities and private individuals and organised under the ‘Kinto Flex’, ‘Kinto Share’, ‘Kinto Ride’, ‘Kinto Join’ and ‘Kinto Go brands and supported by the ‘Kinto Protect’ range of mobility-focused insurance, warranty and restitution products.

Toyota also said its European strong retailer network will continue to play a key role in the ongoing shift from ownership to on-demand usership – and will evolve into ‘Mobility Service Providers’.

In parallel to the work in Europe, Spain, France, Italy, UK and Germany are all establishing local Kinto organisations. The Kinto UK division has already launched following the acquisition late 2019 of Inchcape Fleet Solutions, and is providing a full range of mobility services, from car sharing, carpooling and subscription to leasing solutions in the UK.

Tom Fux, CEO KINTO Europe, said: “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.”

He continued: “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.”