Toyota to Invest 1 B. Dlrs in Southeast Asian Ride-Hailing Firm

June 14, 2018

Nagoya- Toyota Motor Corp. said Wednesday it will invest one billion dollars in Grab Holdings Inc. to reinforce its business alliance with the leading Southeast Asian ride-hailing company, with a view to expanding into vehicle-related markets in the region.

Payment is scheduled to be made later this month. Upon the capital tie-up, Toyota will send to the Singapore-based company an official as a board director and another as an executive officer.

The investment is aimed at making Grab's all rental cars in Southeast Asia "connected" and collecting driving data from telecommunications devices installed on those cars.

Using the data, Toyota plans to expand across the region various services with Internet connection for drivers, including financing and vehicle maintenance, as well as driving behavior-based telematics auto insurance products.

Grab provides ride-hailing, taxi dispatch and car rental services in 217 cities in eight Southeast Asian countries.

Toyota has been partnering with Grab since August last year. In the business tie-up, the automaker installed its telecommunications devices on 100 Grab rental cars to collect driving data for the development of connected services. The alliance has already produced telematics auto insurance products for Grab rental cars in Singapore. Jiji Press