Toyota Kirloskar Motor has announced a new car leasing and subscription program in India to expand its business. The new vertical will be called Toyota’s Mobility Service (TMK). The newly launched service will allow customers the options to lease for subscribing to a new vehicle, instead of the traditional sales method of outright buying a new car or SUV. TMK has partnered up with KINTO under the Toyota Financial Services, ALD Automotive India and SMAS Auto Leasing India Pvt Ltd. Initially, the service will be available in selected metropolitan cities including Delhi NCR, Bangalore and Mumbai. However, TMS will expand its presence to ten more cities within the first year of operation.
Toyota will be offering customers to chose between the Glanza, Yaris, Innova Crysta, Fortuner and the upcoming Urban Cruiser for a tenure of three to five years on a fixed monthly fee as a part of the lease. Vehicle maintenance, insurance and roadside assistance will all be included in the package. Should a customer choose to subscribe, customers can opt for the short-term packages of 24 months to 48 months as well.
Toyota also mentions that it understands the level of awareness of the benefits of leasing a vehicle needs to be improved. The company highlights that they have the ability to chose a vehicle and variant of their choice and all maintenance packages are also taken care of. Additionally, there are tax merits for corporate employees for leasing vehicles. Toyota does acknowledge that customer behaviour is changing from “owning a car” to “using a car”, especially in the post-pandemic era. Toyota also claims that globally, leasing and subscription services for vehicles as a business has been seeing growth.
