Kango — an app-based, on-demand ride service for kids — has partnered with the Chrysler brand to allow drivers to lease Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivans for use in the rideshare.
Kango will offer the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid vehicles in San Francisco beginning this fall. The minivans can only be used for Kango ride services and will be offered to the company’s “best drivers” for a lower price than usual, Sara Schaer, founder and chief executive of Kango, told Auto Finance News. Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivans are also the same vehicles used in Waymo’s self-driving fleet in Phoenix, Ariz.
Drivers will lease directly from Chrysler, but the exact price of the lease is yet to be determined, Schaer said, adding that it will be a standard two- or three-year lease.
“The vehicles will be leased to the drivers at a preferred rate, but we don’t disclose specific financials on our partnerships,” Kango said in a statement to AFN.
Part of the desire to offer drivers a minivan for a discounted lease is to increase the number of these vehicles available for use, as the ride service has seen an increased interest in carpooling from users, Schaer said. “[But] it also does happen that we have an amazing driver whose vehicle just doesn’t pass,” she said. “This is targeted to our best drivers, and we [also] have had drivers ask, ‘Do you have a leasing program?'”
Founded in late 2015, Kango has 250 drivers working for the service. The company plans to expand geographically metro by metro — instead of state by state — both inside California and outside the state in late 2017 and early 2018, Schaer said.
