One of the biggest car manufacturers in the world has announced that it has formed a strategic alliance with one of the biggest ride-hailing services in the world. The alliance will enable more drivers to get on Uber, allowing Toyota to sell more cars in the process while the increase in drivers will help Uber put more drivers on the road to cater to rising demand.
Toyota’s lending arm is going to launch a new leasing program to provide cars to Uber drivers. A spokesman for the company said that this program will take effect in the United States and in several other countries but not in Japan. They’re aiming to launch this program by the second half of this year.
Drivers who purchase their Toyota vehicles under this new program will be able to cover their lease payments through Uber earnings. Toyota Financial Services will be leasing vehicles with flexible terms allowing more people to get cars and start driving with Uber.
The Japanese car manufacturer has also made an investment in Uber but the terms of this investment haven’t been disclosed. The Wall Street Journal reports that Toyota’s investment in Uber is less than $100 million.
This isn’t the first such partnership we’ve seen between traditional car manufacturers are services like Uber. General Motors has already made a $500 million investment in Lyft, and both companies are also collaborating on self-driving cars.