KUALA LUMPUR: For those who aren’t aware Kinto was established by Toyota in 2019. Back then the newly found company was responsible for managing and operating the automaker’s car subscription service. However, a few years later, in 2021, Kinto’s services expanded to areas like vehicle personalisation, upgrade, and basic refurbishment - all of which are offered to the buyers via the Kinto Factory.

The two Toyota cars that are now part of the Kinto Factory range are the GR Yaris and GR Yaris Morizo Selection. The latter is exclusively offered via the carmaker’s Kinto One subscription service.

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Let us now check what upgrades the two Toyota models enjoy under the Kinto tag -

Power enhancement

The two GR Yaris models now benefit from the ‘GR Yaris Performance Software 2.0’ that adds an additional 20 Nm of torque, bringing the total to 390 Nm from 3,200 - 4,000 rpm.

Under the hood of the car lies a 1.6-litre three-cylinder turbocharged engine that before the upgrade made 370 Nm of torque from 3,000 to 4,000 rpm along with a maximum power output of 272 PS to 6,500 rpm (remain unchanged).

Personalisation tweaks

Both the upgraded vehicles are eligible for personalisation and can be tailored as per the customer's preference. Now there are two ways to go through it -

A customer can consult with a specially trained GR consultant about accelerator response, steering assistance, and all-wheel drive driving force distribution. The company is offering 27 combinations of the above-mentioned parameters, any one of which will cost 8,800 yen (approx RM 285).

Or, the consultant will analyse a customer’s driving data which is collected while they drove on a designated course and then determine which of the 27 combinations is a perfect fit.
This comprehensive session at GR Garage will cost 15,000 yen (RM 485).

Kinto One in Malaysia

Back in January 2021, the Kinto One programme was made available in Malaysia. At the moment 14 cars are part of the subscription plan and the latest one to join is the soon-to-be-launched Veloz.

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