HONOLULU — Toyota launched its first homegrown car-share program this month in Hawaii with a local dealership group, but not as an attempt to soak up the rental market for the millions of tourists who fly to this Pacific paradise for short stays every year.
Rather, it could be a model for dealerships around the globe to tap into local demand for part-time vehicle use by leveraging the Japanese automaker's big investment in data services as it tries to anticipate consumer trends beyond personal ownership.
The new service, called Hui, runs on the proprietary mobility platform developed by the Toyota Connected business unit. Its operator is Hawaii's biggest Toyota dealership group, Servco Pacific, which is also the brand's local distributor.
Servco CEO Mark Fukunaga said tourists are welcome to use the service, which has a starting rate of $10 per hour, but the target audience is one-car families who may occasionally need a second vehicle, students who can't afford a car yet and businesses or government agencies without vehicle fleets.
"For many customers, this is an affordable short-term solution for a car when they need it," Fukunaga said at the launch event here. "We've seen around the world where car-sharing has reduced traffic congestion, freed up parking and improved air quality."
Hui is putting up 70 new vehicles — Toyota's Prius and Camry and the Lexus RX — that can be rented by the hour or by the day at 25 fixed locations in the dense urban area of Honolulu. Fukunaga said a lower-priced option could be added by putting used cars into the mix, if there is demand.
The rentals can be arranged through a smartphone app, with no human interaction, according to a demonstration by Hui director and Servco's mobility chief, Peter Fukunaga, who is Mark's cousin. Gasoline is included in the price through a provided gas card, and pets are allowed in their carriers.
If successful, Hui could be a model for retailers in urban areas looking for a new income stream as consumers move toward shared-use vehicles, particularly when autonomous vehicles become common, said Zack Hicks, CEO of Toyota Connected North America.
"Doing this through a dealer network gives us a competitive edge," Hicks told Automotive News. "What's great about Servco was that they didn't see this as a pilot test. They said, 'This is a business we're going to get into, and we're going to iterate our business model until we get it right.' "
Toyota Motor Corp. is getting involved with mobility companies through a recent $1 billion investment in Singapore's ride-hailing giant Grab Holdings, a partnership with San Francisco-based car-sharing service Getaround and other projects. But it also is looking to leverage its global retail partners through its own platform, and Hui and Hawaii are ground zero.
"I really believe this is totally different because we didn't acquire a bunch of other startups," Hicks said. "We purpose-built this platform for these capabilities."
Toyota and Lexus dealers are showing a lot of interest, Hicks said, and Toyota Connected is scaling up its platform to meet that demand. The app-based model can be customized for different markets and includes fleet-management tools with a variety of applications, he said.
For example, a potential project in Spain would allow dealers to put some of their vehicles into a sharing service on nights and weekends. "That's certainly a huge opportunity for our dealers to be able to monetize their service fleet as well as their used inventory — plus new inventory — however they want to do that," Hicks said.
Although Europe is ahead of the U.S. on car-sharing, that doesn't mean it can't work here. Look at Hawaii.
Mark Fukunaga, the Servco CEO, said retailers need new ways to market their vehicles, whether through personal ownership, car-sharing, ride-sharing or whatever consumers are asking for. It could actually result in more car sales, not fewer.
"Some people may decide, perhaps, to use Hui more than buying a vehicle, which is fine," he said. "That said, we do believe that by opening up a personal car to a lot more folks — folks who may not be able to afford it, folks who may just want it part-time, who can't justify buying a car — you're opening up a whole new world of mobility and usage and potentially a lot more miles driven."
You can reach Laurence Iliff at liliff@crain.com