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Case Study

KINTO: Toyota’s new mobility services platform

By Dominique Turpin, Winter Nie and Ivy Buche

18 pages

January 2022

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Reference: IMD-7-2320

In 2019, Toyota launched KINTO, its new mobility services brand, in Europe – to address the increasing shift in consumer preferences from ownership to on-demand usership. KINTO was only the third brand to be launched by Toyota in its history (after Toyota and Lexus). This signaled to the market that the world’s largest automaker was serious about transforming from a car manufacturer to a mobility company. The case describes how, under the leadership of Tom Fux, the fledgling company grew through market-by-market deployment of KINTO-branded services across Europe.

To build a robust foundation and spur progress, KINTO leveraged the strengths of various Toyota enterprises, including Toyota Financial Services, Toyota Insurance Services, and technological partner Toyota Connected Europe. Toyota’s retailer network also played a crucial role. KINTO enabled the retailers to go beyond their traditional sales and maintenance role to offer new mobility services to give customers access to their preferred vehicles when and where they want, for as long as they like. Over time, KINTO’s services expanded into car subscriptions, car sharing, carpooling and multi-modal solutions tailored to private individuals, businesses and cities. By 2021, KINTO was well placed to address the demand for smart, innovative and flexible mobility services depending on the maturity of different markets. As Tom Fux moved to his next role in Toyota, Miguel Fonseca took charge as the new CEO of KINTO Europe. He pondered how he could launch the company on its next growth trajectory. • How could KINTO become a one-stop-shop for future mobility solutions? • How could the company scale up its services in different countries? • How could the leadership balance organic and inorganic growth to secure new business opportunities?

Learning Objective

Identifying the imperative for strategic business transformation
Rethinking the business model to transform a traditional business; implications for production, marketing, distribution and service
Understanding the challenges in 1) establishing a new business, and 2) scaling up fast to capture new opportunities
Managing complexity in balancing organic and inorganic growth across markets with different levels of maturity
Assessing the key success factors for building a new brand

Keywords

Mobility, Business Transformation, New Business Model, Subscription, Car Sharing, Business Growth, Partnership, Asset Management, Customer Centricity, Strategy, Industry Innovation, Climate Action, Sustainability, Scale-up, Growth

Settings

KINTO Europe Gmbh, Automotive, Logistics and Supply Chain, Transportation
2018-2021

Type

Field Research

Available Languages

English

Related material

Teaching note, Video

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2022 John Molson MBA International Case Writing Competition - 2nd prize

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