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Toyota's car subscription service rewards you for safe driving

Toyota has teamed up with Sumitomo Mitsui Auto Service Company to launch a new car subscription service with gamification elements in Japan. The program is called Kinto, and it'll offer two tiers: the first, called Kinto One, will allow you to drive one Toyota vehicle over a three-year period for anywhere between $420 and $900 a month. When the tier becomes available on March 1st, you can choose from the available Prius, Corolla Sport, Alphard, Vellfire and Crown models. The other tier called Kinto Select will give you the power to drive one of the available Lexus-branded vehicles for $1,630 a month for three years. Now, what truly makes Kinto potentially more interesting than other leasing services is a rewards program that awards points based on how well you drive. Toyota didn't really expound on how it will work, other than saying that it will "award points to customers based on their vehicle usage (such as for safe or ecological driving)." As TechCrunch notes, the assumption is that the vehicle's in-car connected system will come with the ability to monitor your driving. Best thing about it is that the points you earn aren't useless rewards you can't even use: you'll be able to apply them toward payments. Kinto's Select option will be available starting on February 6th, almost a full month before the more affordable Kinto One launches. Both will be available via select dealers in Tokyo on a trial basis, and they won't officially roll out across Japan until summer. The points program won't be available until fall, when Kinto One's options will also expand. Unfortunately, there's no word on whether Kinto will eventually roll out in the US and other markets outside Toyota's home nation.For more information on Vehicle Subscription Services, check out the Complete Guide.Reporting by Mariella Moon for Engadget.Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Toyota Harrier gets a whale of a facelift [w/video]

Historically, the Toyota Harrier has been a doppelgänger for North America's Lexus RX - at some points, it was little more than a badge-swap and a few options away, at least aesthetically. That appears to be changing with this just-revealed new generation at the Tokyo Motor Show.
That's because this two-row, five-seat Toyota is in possession of a bold new look, dominated by a jutting, baleen-like grille edged in chrome, along with new headlamps and fascia. The greenhouse has likewise been revamped and gotten more pointed at the rump, which has new taillights, a resurfaced tailgate and a faux rear diffuser. Were it to be ported over to North American Lexus dealers intact, the Harrier's look would be jarring in light of the brand's spindle-grille-based design language, so we suspect that if the RX gets any of these updates (it was just refreshed for 2013), it will strike out on a different path visually.
Unlike the US RX, the new Harrier will rely on smaller-displacement four-cylinder engines, namely a 2.0-liter paired with a continuously variable transmission or a 2.5-liter four backed up by an electric motor. We'd like to see a smaller-displacement option for the US RX (it presently runs with 3.5-liter V6 engines in both gas-only and hybrid guise), but suspect it won't arrive until the next all-new model.

Toyota previews next Lexus RX with Tokyo-bound JDM Harrier

The Lexus RX shares much with the Toyota Highlander, but its more direct counterpart is the Toyota Harrrier. Never heard of it? That's because Toyota only sells it at home in Japan, and now it's revealed a new one. So if the Harrier is essentially a Toyota-badged version of the RX, then what's the big deal, you ask? The big deal is that the new Harrier which leaked in July, set to debut at the Tokyo Motor Show next week and which you see here isn't quite the same as the Lexus, and those differences could (and in most cases likely will) make their way over to the RX as well.
For starters, the styling is different. Granted that the Lexus version will almost certainly get a spindle-shaped grille, but even so, the Harrier's nose seems to protrude further than the RX's and the headlamps are a notably different shape. The greenhouse is also a different shape, coming to a sharper point at the back, and the mirrors are fixed to the A-pillar not to the door panel. The taillamps are revised, the tailgate has a new profile and there's a pseudo-diffuser at the bottom of the rear bumper. Subtle changes, to be sure, but then Toyota and Lexus are known for their evolutionary approach to styling. The interior has apparently undergone some updates as well, with a more dynamically styled dashboard, a more symmetrical center stack and different seats, steering wheel, door panels... the works. The infotainment display screen has also moved further down from its position in the current RX.
Toyota will offer the new Harrier with a 2.0-liter four mated to a CVT and driving either the front wheels or all four, and a hybrid setup with a 2.5-liter married to a 140-hp electric motor. The RX is offered here with a 3.5-liter V6 either on its own or with an electric assist. We wouldn't expect Lexus to go swapping the larger engines for the smaller ones, at least not for the US market. There's plenty more to the Harrier, of course, than the similarities and differences to the Lexus RX, and if you're buying a premium crossover in Japan, you can delve into the full details in the press release below, together with the images in the gallery above.