IMD professors Dominique Turpin and Winter Nie, and Ivy Buche prepared

this case as a basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate either

effective or ineffective handling of a business situation. Copyright © 2021

by IMD - International Institute for Management Development, Lausanne,

Switzerland.

KINTO: Toyota’s New Mobility Services Platform

You may not be aware that Toyota actually began as a company that built

weaving looms, not cars, and it was my grandfather Kiichiro Toyoda that decided

to do what many thought impossible at the time to go from building looms to

building cars. I'm the third-generation Toyoda to run this company. And you've

probably heard the saying that the third-generation knows no hardship, or the

third-generation ruins everything. Well, hopefully this will not happen!

It's my goal to transition Toyota from an automobile company to a mobility

company, and the possibilities of what we can build, in my mind, are endless.

Technology is changing quickly in our industry and the race is on. It's been said

that data is the new gold and that software is the key. But I would argue that

we're moving from software to the platform as the thing we're all after. It's the

platform that will be the backbone for mobility as a service, for autonomy, for

car sharing, for any number of services that we want to make possible.

Akio Toyoda, President, Toyota Motor Corporation. Speech at CES, Las Vegasi

In June 2021, Tom Fux, CEO of Toyota’s mobility brand KINTO, was preparing

his hand over to Miguel Fonseca, who would assume dual responsibility as CEO

of KINTO Europe and SVP for Connected Technologies & Mobility at Toyota

Page 1 of 25
Motor Europe. Over the previous four years, Tom had built a strong foundation

for KINTO1 in line with the mobility vision articulated by Akio Toyoda. He

collected his thoughts and started jotting down the key challenges that Miguel

would have to address to create KINTO’s three-year strategic roadmap.

Toyota Motor Europe (TME)

Toyota’s European story began on a small scale in 1963, with its first shipment of

400 cars to distributors and a motoring public who knew little about Toyota and its

vehicles. After nearly six decades of steady growth, the company employed 25,000

people and had 9 manufacturing plants plus 29 national marketing and sales

companies with a network of over 3,000 Toyota and Lexus authorized dealers

across the continent.ii In addition, Toyota Financial Services (TFS) provided

financing solutions for private consumers and corporate clients in 18 European

countries, and Toyota Insurance Management – with over 1.2 million policies in its

portfolio in 2021 – supported consumers with the right insurance products.

In 2020, TME outperformed the overall market – which contracted by 20%

during the coronavirus pandemic – selling 993,113 Toyota and Lexus vehicles

(minus 9% year-on-year). Yet, TME’s overall market share increased by 0.7

percentage points to 6%, an all-time record for the company. The Toyota brand

also climbed to the third spot for best-selling passenger car brands in Europe.iii

1
The name KINTO was derived from the Japanese word kintoun, or flying nimbus, a

cloud providing on-demand transport for a well-known animated character in Japan. Just

like kintoun, KINTO aimed to be available every time a customer required easy and

clever ways to move around – whenever and wherever.

Page 2 of 25
Embarking on a new journey: Toyota Fleet Mobility

In 2018, Toyota began preparing the European organization to integrate new

mobility services into its existing business of making and selling cars. It

launched two entities – Toyota Fleet Mobility (TFM) and Toyota Connected

Europe (TCEU). TFM, a 51:49 joint venture between TFS and TME, would

provide full-service leasing solutions to the European market. It was headed by

Tom Fux, a 20-year Toyota veteran who had served in sales and marketing

roles in multiple European countries. TCEU was launched as a subsidiary of

Toyota Connected, a strategic business unit leading the parent company’s

development of telematics, big data and a mobility services platform. Given the

external trends impacting the automotive industry, the company believed the

rationale for building a full-service leasing business was compelling.

The rationale

The European market was characterized by two main customer segments –

private and corporate fleets. In 2010, the split between the two segments was

about 50:50, and TME had traditionally focused on the private segment. By

2018, two shifts had occurred: (1) the fleet segment started increasing, with

two out of three new cars being sold to companies, and (2) a split emerged

within the private segment between ownership and usership propositions.

Page 3 of 25
Leveraging corporate fleet management trends

According to Deloitte,2 in 2021 the private car and corporate fleet share of new

car registrations would be 37% and 63%, respectively. Corporate car

registrations had grown at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.5%

between 2016 and 2020 (double the rate of the European car sales market

overall).iv Two trends were evident in the business-to-business (B2B) market:

• Companies were increasingly buying full-service leasing contracts instead of

purchasing cars to avoid owning fixed assets. Full-service leasing had been

around for 20-25 years, traditionally driven by high discounts and

overcapacity in factories. Leasing companies targeted large companies and

secured higher profit margins than auto manufacturers. Market research

agencies predicted a growing opportunity among small and medium

enterprises (SMEs) such as plumbers, architects, production companies and

construction companies. This customer group preferred to approach dealers

rather than mature leasing companies for their full-service leasing needs.

• Companies were outsourcing their fleet management to reduce costs. Europe

was by far the largest market for fleet management globally and, in many

ways, also the most advanced.v According to industry estimates, in 2020

approximately 13 million cars were managed by full-service leasing

companies in Europe; this was expected to reach 15 million by 2025 (about

5% growth year-on-year).

2
Headquartered in London, Deloitte is a multinational professional services company

with offices in over 150 countries and territories around the world.

Page 4 of 25
Shift from private car ownership to usership gathering pace

The cost of car ownership in cities was increasing with road tolls and high

parking costs, along with the hassle caused by congestion. For example, in Paris

less than 35% of people owned a car. In Europe, car sharing had been growing

in double digits (especially in large cities), with the number of users doubling

to 11.5 million from 2016 to 2018.vi There was increasing demand for full-

service leasing, renting and vehicle subscriptions that provided private

consumers with convenience, cost efficiencies and an all-inclusive value-added

experience (see Exhibit 1 for mobility models). Tom explained the economic

sense of usership:

People want zero down payment, predictable monthly costs, inclusive

insurance, maintenance, tires and all the auxiliary services so that they

know “my car costs me €350-€450 per month. After three years, I just

give the keys back and take a new car.” Full-service leasing is a simple

offer where you can predict the total cost, avoid the hassle of buying a

car and don’t have to commit a large purchase amount. Moreover,

everyone sells the car after four to seven years and once again there is

the hassle of negotiating and financing a new car.

See Exhibit 2 for other key trends impacting mobility.

Pathways for growing Toyota Fleet Mobility

TFM followed both organic and inorganic routes to growth. Given Toyota’s

manufacturing and distribution DNA, Tom was aware that the company lacked

the capabilities to manage full-service leasing or long-term renting of large fleets:

Page 5 of 25
 The first capability we need to develop is asset management – as the owner

and operator of vehicles. The next is to become a mobility operator and finally

a mobility aggregator. We want to go up this value chain of the new mobility.

Organic growth

In 2019, TFM developed its operations in three organic markets – Spain (April),

France (September) and Italy (November). Tom and his six-member

entrepreneurial team decided to pursue a “basic” strategy in these markets

providing three types of services:

• Financial services: Offering three- to four-year operating leases on new

Toyota and Lexus cars only through the dealer channel to private consumers

and SMEs.

• Vehicle services: The leasing contract included maintenance, servicing,

repairs and insurance. Other limited services comprised replacement car,

roadside assistance, etc.

• Telematics: This included an app and a fleet portal for bookings,

maintenance service reminders, anticipating contract drift,3 enabling

responsible driving and antitheft tracking.

• Dealers were a critical partner in Toyota’s pursuit of organic growth. The

company worked closely with progressive dealers to build a business case

for leasing and rental services. As signs of early success emerged, other

dealers – initially skeptical – followed suit.

3
For example, notifying customers if they were about to exceed their contractual

mileage limit.

Page 6 of 25
Tom soon hit the critical question of expanding into multi-brand vehicles – a

“chicken and egg” situation. To be truly multi-brand, Toyota would need a

contract with other auto majors or their authorized dealers. Large markets

would require a network of 2,000-3,000 service points to serve 15-20 brands

in every major town in the country. Given that leasing was a fledgling business

for TFM, it could not guarantee the numbers the multi-brand dealers expected.

Inorganic growth

To accelerate growth, TFM embarked on mergers and acquisitions in the UK and

Portugal. In December 2019, it acquired Inchcape Fleet Solutions for £100

million.4,vii As one of the UK’s largest and best-known independent fleet

management and full-service leasing specialists, Inchcape offered established

operations, a comprehensive portfolio of multi-brand passenger and

commercial vehicles (about 50,000 cars) and a customer base across the

corporate, public, not-for-profit and SME sectors. Moreover, it provided flexible

financial solutions, ranging from six months to seven years, for both new and

used cars. For large corporate clients, having multi-brand cars was key, as they

could choose Lexus, Audi or Mercedes for management cars and Skoda or

Renault as service cars. The acquisition of Inchcape was a milestone for TFM.

Tom stated:

If I want to work with governmental institutions or big corporations, I

need to be multi-brand even though it increases complexity. Today many

customers are demanding electric vehicles. My order bank in the UK is

30% to 40% electric vehicles. So, I must be able to offer Tesla, Nissan,

4
£1= €1.169 = US$1.374 =CHF1.259

Page 7 of 25
 Renault or Volkswagen. Just because I don’t have a product, I don’t need

to lose the customer.

The next move, in March 2020, involved a joint venture in Portugal with Salvador

Caetano Auto na Finlog, in which TFM held a 51% stake. The value proposition

was to provide a rental solution with a fixed fee for desired services for the

duration of the contract. Both deals accelerated TFM’s learning and growth.

TFM’s business and operating model evolution

TFM was essentially operating a service business – leasing/renting the car,

maintaining it, managing the fleet and studying the usage data to ensure

contract amendments. This involved significant resources and higher operating

expenses. Also, the ownership of the cars remained with TFM. This was in sharp

contrast to selling cars to customers via vehicle loans (through TFS), where the

operating model was built on managing the credit risk and minimizing operating

expenses. Tom explained:

We used to earn money on the interest rate (like any financial services

company), but now we earn money on maintenance, tires, rebates,

replacement vehicles, and so on. Although the profit per contract is

higher, we hold the ownership risk for the vehicles over their lifetime as

well as the utilization risk when a car stands in our parking lot, i.e. not

being utilized and not being monetized, effectively costing us money.

When selling cars, the key consideration was the sales price – the car had to

be competitively priced in relation to competitors, according to specifications

for each market. However, with leasing, the residual value of the car after each

cycle of use was the most important factor. After three or four years, the vehicle

had to be refurbished and released for use once again. Hence, the company’s

Page 8 of 25
new operating mantra became managing the fleet, optimizing the utilization

level through every operating cycle, and maximizing the lifetime value of the

vehicle fleet (see Exhibit 3).

This meant TFM had to redefine its strategy for the various car models in its

portfolio. For example, Mirai, Toyota’s pioneering hydrogen fuel-cell car, could

be positioned for early adopters willing to pay a premium to lease/rent the car

to experience a new technology. Three years later, in the second cycle, Mirai

could be a replacement for a mainstream rental car and, finally, in the third

cycle, it could potentially become a subscription vehicle. From this perspective,

the final residual value that would be acceptable to TFM became the first

consideration in the pricing discussion. Then, working backwards to arrive at

the leasing price for a particular model became the new thinking around pricing

– thus turning the entire process on its head.

Executing all the operational shifts was not easy. Nevertheless, TFM broke even

in two years. It was time to accelerate Toyota’s mobility journey.

Launch of KINTO

By early 2021, TFM had a presence in six countries – France, Spain, Italy, the

UK, Portugal and Germany, and TME decided it was time for the big

announcement. In April 2021, TME launched KINTO Europe GmbH, a limited

liability company with headquarters in Cologne, Germany. TFS held a 51%

stake, with the remaining 49% owned by TME.viii Tom became CEO of KINTO.

For Toyota, this was a first-of-its-kind joint venture between the financial

services and auto businesses. Tom elaborated on the logic for a JV:

We are going to own the vehicles and provide services. So, we need the

knowhow to maintain the vehicles, manage spare parts, build distribution

Page 9 of 25
 and secure support in each market. That’s why joining forces is better as

we can combine the deep knowledge of the motor company as well as the

risk management expertise of our finance business.

In addition to the TFM business operations, all diverse mobility units under TFS

or TME were unified under KINTO. TCEU became the technological enabler for

KINTO, providing digital support to shape the new mobility value propositions

and scale them over time.

A brand is born

KINTO was only the third brand to be launched by Toyota in its history (after

Toyota and Lexus). This was a signal to the market that the world’s largest auto

maker was serious about transforming into a mobility provider.

Since KINTO was a separate entity, Tom could move fast. He hired experts from

different fields – mobility, leasing and banking – and full board support cleared

the way for quick decision-making on investments and the way forward. The

strategy roadmap involved market-by-market deployment of KINTO-branded

services across Europe. Each market started establishing its own dedicated

KINTO organization to implement the appropriate levels of local mobility

services. Tom stated:

As a mobility company, we will have full flexibility to offer usership from

one minute to lifetime. As long as you pay a monthly fee you will be using

the car even for 20 years. After four or five years, we will offer you a new

Yaris model, with improved design, fuel efficiency and safety as a

replacement. We want to operate our own fleet, advise others on how to

improve their CO2 footprint, improve vehicle fleet utilization and build a

data-driven business.

Page 10 of 25
KINTO Europe significantly drew upon the established capabilities of TFS, which

provided access to competitive funding and related services, scoring, risk

management, billing and other back-office services, thus absorbing costs and

driving competitiveness. KINTO also leveraged the strengths of its national

marketing and sales companies in terms of direct sales, marketing and CRM,

which helped it to manage the crucial relationship with the dealer/retailer

networks.

KINTO’s ambition

With a view to truly delivering “Mobility for All,” KINTO aimed to offer six

services (see Exhibit 4):

• KINTO One – all-inclusive leasing service (as provided by TFM).

• KINTO Flex – flexible vehicle subscription service operating in Belgium,

Germany, Denmark, Norway and Finland (Portugal and the UK in the

pipeline). Subscription customers wanted to have the cost of a long-term

mobility promise at the price of short-term commitment. Although ongoing

trials in 2021 were with new cars, in future, to make the business viable with

the short-term contracts, the intention was to use three- or four-year-old

off-lease refurbished vehicles. This would allow the depreciation to flatten at

0.5% per month or 6% per year, making it manageable from a subscription

cost point of view. Tom explained how the leasing business supported the

subscription model:

Mobility companies providing subscriptions typically operate a small

number of vehicles (2,000–3,000) but they need 100 employees and end

up burning cash. With our full-service leasing business, adding 2,000–

3,000 subscription vehicles is easy. I need two or three people in

Page 11 of 25
 customer service, one person for onboarding and one more for credit

check. Basically, I can organize the same business much more efficiently

with 10–15 people than somebody starting from zero as a mobility

subscription company.

• KINTO Share – car sharing services for corporate and private customers,

with multiple schemes (one-way, roundtrip, semi-floating, free-floating).

This was live in Italy, Spain, Ireland, Denmark and Sweden, with the UK,

France and Germany in the pipeline. Cars could be picked up and returned

at designated mobility stations at key locations across the city. Customers

accessed the cars through an app and only paid for the usage period – from

one hour to three months (average use 10 hours). KINTO took care of asset

management and operations such as cleaning, fueling and repairs. The full

range of vehicles was available – from small cars like Yaris to the Proace van

– to serve different customer needs. Although this added cost and

operational complexity, it differentiated the value proposition from

competitors. In Sweden, even the all-new Mirai was included in the KINTO

Share fleet to democratize fuel-cell technology. Johan Lundbald, head of

mobility, Toyota Sweden, stated:

We are really committed to fuel-cell technologies, which are available only

in certain markets globally. We are bringing these vehicles into the KINTO

Share fleet – becoming the world’s first car sharing service with fuel-cell

technology.

• KINTO Ride – ride-hailing service. Toyota had investments in Uber, Lyft,

Grab and Didi. It did not want to launch a competing offer because the

market was already saturated with these players and existing taxi services.

Page 12 of 25
 Instead, the company was piloting other types of transport services for kids,

the elderly and the disabled.

• KINTO Join – corporate car-pooling solution for employees, offered in Italy,

Spain, France, the UK and Norway. The company acquired a start-up that

provided a platform that was rented to corporates, so their employees could

use an app to connect with each other and organize the car-pooling process.

Benefits included commuting convenience, reduced CO2 emissions,

optimization of parking spaces in urban centers and a safe way to travel in

a “bubble” during the pandemic.

• KINTO Go – multi-modal aggregator, coordinating services such as route

planning, public transport ticketing, parking, taxi and events. This was live

in Italy, where it offered a nationwide solution (with plans to launch in the

UK).

KINTO took a country-by-country approach to building these services

depending on the customer maturity and dealer readiness in each market. For

example, it started with KINTO Share in Sweden to establish trust in the new

brand and build its capabilities in asset management before expanding into

other services. By mid-2021, KINTO Sweden operated 1,000 cars in the three

largest cities – Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmo – with 20,000 registered

users. Similarly, in Italy the services started with KINTO One and expanded to

KINTO Share, which was present in three regions by 2021. KINTO Go went live

next, whereby the company could link the traditional business with the new

mobility solutions. Customers buying the latest fourth-generation hybrid car –

Yaris – would earn credits from driving the electric car, which could be used for

Page 13 of 25
mobility offers up to €150 on the KINTO Go platform. Donato Santoro, head of

innovation, digital and mobility at TFS, Italy, explained:

Our job is to provide individuals, companies and communities with what

they need. The type of deal that they’re looking for depends on the time

period, the distance and the desired level of flexibility. For example, a

company with a large fleet is more interested in having greater flexibility

of services because the fleet is instrumental for their business activity.

For KINTO, as a single company providing a range of services, it’s a matter

of managing the portfolio to get the right profitability.

Evolving role of dealers

In the auto industry, the traditional role of authorized dealers was to offer

customers their vehicle of choice in a win-win deal. Customers returned to the

dealer workshop for stipulated servicing during the guarantee period, after

which many switched to local (and cheaper) independent garages. According to

some statistics, when a dealer sold a car, on average, the car was returned for

service once a year by private customers and 1.5 times a year by fleet

customers. Beyond the sales and service value proposition, dealers typically did

not offer rental services, nor did they have the capability to manage a fleet of

shared vehicles. Consequently, the emerging mobility trends had been creating

insecurity and anxiety among the dealer community, “What is my business

going to look like in the future? Should I invest or stop investing in a big new

facility? If more and more people prefer not to own cars, will I become like a

travel agency, many of which went bankrupt as consumers moved online?”

TME had about 3,000 dealer locations in Europe. The success of many KINTO

services – KINTO One, KINTO Flex, KINTO Share – would depend on creating a

Page 14 of 25
new value chain where dealers played a different and more important role as

mobility service providers. Tom explained:

In the new value chain, dealers can offer both the vehicles and the

services for shared vehicles. When we talk about shared mobility, we need

to take care of the car two to three times a week, be it cleaning, fueling,

charging and so on. It will also require dealers to scale up their mobile

services to go to the customer instead of waiting for the customer to show

up. Yes, there might be less cars on the road in the future, but there are

many opportunities for the dealer to tap into.

Across the different markets, Toyota engaged in open discussion with dealers

to bring them onboard. For example, in Italy, at a large-scale dealer conference,

Toyota’s top management team explained the company’s mobility vision,

KINTO’s significance as Toyota’s third global brand, and the expected

involvement of dealers as critical partners. Mauro Caruccio, CEO of Toyota

Motor, Italy, emphasized:

You need to trust us. Twenty years ago, many of you had doubts when

Toyota launched itself on the electrification journey. Today, with the same

emphasis, vision and determination, it is time to embrace a new challenge

– transformation into a mobility service provider. KINTO is not a program

or an initiative, is the third brand of Toyota!

KINTO’s ability to scale would depend on obtaining dealer buy-in. The company

wanted to enable its dealers to offer a car on a minute, day, week, month or

year basis. But the key question uppermost in dealers’ minds was whether their

expanded role in the new value chain would bring commensurate profitability.

Page 15 of 25
Competition

With the launch of KINTO, Toyota had entered a completely different playing

field (see Exhibit 5), competing against three types of players:

• Traditional auto majors: The key players in Europe had launched their own

mobility solutions such as Volkswagen MOIA, BMW-Daimler joint venture,

and Volvo-M.

• Full-service leasing companies: The key competitors included ALD

Automotive, Arval and LeasePlan, which had been operating for decades.

These companies were highly proficient in managing large multi-brand fleets

and reselling the used cars. They were increasingly targeting SME customers

and private individuals by publishing online the monthly installment rates for

all vehicle brands. This posed several risks for Toyota: Loss of the customer;

loss of the service value chain (because they used independent garage

networks instead of Toyota-authorized service centers) and, ultimately, loss

of vehicle renewal (i.e., they could replace all Toyota vehicles with Fords).

• Mobility companies: Through the 2010s decade, a number of pure mobility

players had disrupted the auto industry globally by addressing users’ pain

points through ride-hailing, car sharing, subscription and carpooling

services. These players were more advanced and well funded by venture

capital, particularly in North America and Asia (see Exhibit 6). However,

Europe’s mobility sector was gradually maturing.

Impacted by the pandemic, the mobility industry experienced reduced

funding, fewer customers and less liquidity. Several companies globally

decided to scale back, merge or completely withdraw from the market.

Page 16 of 25
Challenges

Creating demand

Toyota was in the early phase of its transformation into a mobility company. It

was targeting both B2C and B2B customers. Although there was a certain level

of customer demand for KINTO services, Tom felt that the market was not at

the tipping point yet. He stated:

Today, there is a demand. People like to rent a car to go to their weekend

houses or on long weekend holidays and all our cars are booked. But is

this demand enough for our business to be profitable and viable? Probably

not. The same goes on subscription. People would love to have

subscription, but are they willing to pay for flexibility? Probably not. We’re

still waiting for the real demand to happen.

Shifting from hardware to software

Toyota’s core competitive advantage was in manufacturing and distribution of

cars. To build a mobility services platform and spur data-driven customer

experience, it would have to develop capabilities in software and data analytics

– new fields for the company. KINTO had progressed with setting up a platform

– partly in-house leveraging the data capabilities of Toyota Connected and

partly with external companies – to analyze the data feeds from its data

communication modules in the cars. However, it still had a long way to go.

KINTO was also discussing with R&D what the future shared vehicle should look

like. The car features would have to be super-standardized for cleaning,

upgrading, repairs and refurbishing, while allowing for super-customization

through digitalization (seat and steering wheel positions, favorite radio station).

Such a design would enable cost efficiencies in managing large mobility fleets.

Page 17 of 25
Managing the asset lifecycle

With the mobility business gaining momentum, KINTO had 110,000 cars under

management. Eventually it would have to manage the lifecycle of an increasing

number of already depreciated vehicles, i.e., it would need to refurbish, reuse

or resell, say, 10,000 cars per month. Effective asset utilization and improving

vehicle lifetime value over several ownership and operating cycles was key.

Tom stated:

As demand grows, this will not be an easy task. We have no experience

with refurbishing cars, and we are not a used car reseller either. We need

our factories to be on board to refurbish the cars. We need to build a

standardized, much cheaper process while using original OEM parts. For

example, we typically pay more for a tire that has to be replaced after a

puncture compared to the original tire. So, how can we refurbish with our

manufacturing costs and NOT with our after-sales costs?

If KINTO offered multi-brand vehicles, the situation would be exacerbated,

especially in estimating the residual value at the end of the lease.

Executing change with dealers

Convincing dealers to move to the new mobility paradigm was quite challenging

for KINTO leaders. Dealers had to fundamentally rethink the way they operated.

They would need to refocus the time and attention dedicated to serving

customers at the front end to ramping up service infrastructure and building

new capabilities at the back end for maintaining a large vehicle fleet.

Page 18 of 25
Seeking profitability in a new business model

Over the years, TME and TFS had run a profitable business selling and financing

vehicles while transferring ownership to the customer. With mobility, KINTO

had entered a business where it would own all the vehicles, take additional risks

and become a service provider offering usership to customers. Given that its

ambition was to scale the mobility business manifold, the challenges of making

the new business model work would mount. Tom stated:

This is not going to be a few thousand vehicles; we are thinking of hundreds

of thousands of vehicles in our portfolio in the future. In addition, we need

to be multi-brand. So, we need to support not only Toyota and Lexus but

also Volkswagen, Renault, Opel, etc. Becoming a profitable mobility player

hand in hand with our dealers and other partners is key.

See Exhibit 7 for an indicative summary of the key performance metrics for

KINTO Europe.

Going forward

By mid-2021, KINTO had become a mid-sized mobility player in Europe, active

in nine countries, with about 400 employees and 110,000 cars under

management (mainly KINTO One). Toyota had taken a long-term view and was

investing in new services and innovative business models. Tom stated:

Our vision is to be the mobility provider of choice for all types of

customers. We are building our own roadmap as there is simply no

predefined approach. We have unique strengths and capabilities that

differentiate us from other players in the mobility space. KINTO is not

bound by any service or location. We are truly diversified. The goal is not

to be the biggest, but to be most ready, in every town in Europe.

Page 19 of 25
In July 2021, the incoming CEO Miguel Fonseca, an industry stalwart with 35

years of experience, set a target to more than double the portfolio to 250,000

cars by fiscal year 2026. Miguel stated:

KINTO’s purpose is to assist the transformation of Toyota and Lexus to

become a mobility services company – providing mobility for all and

leaving no one behind. This means transforming the channels to market

for Toyota and Lexus cars, whilst bringing additional sustainable services

to society. These channels should initially expand on the traditional

wholesale/sales channel via the sales network, to progressively replace

them – with the retailers becoming “Mobility Service Providers” with

newfound capabilities and tools (including platforms). This will enable a

vehicle lifetime value strategy, with new digital customer engagement

possibilities, harnessing data to provide value-added services.

It was time for Miguel to craft KINTO’s three-year strategy and roadmap.

Several questions came to the fore:

• How could KINTO become a one-stop-shop provider connecting businesses,

private individuals and the public sector in planning and organizing for future

mobility solutions?

• How could KINTO accelerate scale-up in different countries by: (1) growing

each service and (2) expanding services (from car sharing to subscription to

ride-hailing), leveraging the dealer network?

• In some countries KINTO was a cost center. How could the company

achieve/improve its profitability?

• How could it balance organic and inorganic growth, leveraging new

acquisitions and partnerships to secure new business opportunities?

Page 20 of 25
Exhibit 1: Mobility models

Source: Author

Exhibit 2: Key trends impacting mobility

Source: Author

Page 21 of 25
Exhibit 3: Vehicle lifecycle

Source: Author

Exhibit 4: KINTO services

Source: https://newsroom.toyota.eu/toyota-announces-the-launch-of-kinto-europe---
a-new-mobility-services-company-for-the-region/

Page 22 of 25
Exhibit 5: Competitive landscape (not exhaustive)

Source: Author
Exhibit 6: Global venture capital funding in mobility

Source: https://sifted.eu/articles/europes-mobility-sector-2020/

Exhibit 7: KINTO Europe indicative financial summary

Note: Company policy restricts disclosure of numbers

Source: Company information

i
https://global.toyota/en/newsroom/corporate/20566886.html
ii
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iii
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market-in-2020-gaining-07-percentage-points-to-achieve-a-record-60-share/
iv
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v
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