General Motors has will brand its ‘personal mobility’ services under the one name, Maven, including a new car-sharing service.
Maven team already includes 40 dedicated employees from the connected car technology industry as well as ride and car-sharing professionals from Google, Zipcar and Sidecar.
“GM is at the forefront of redefining the future of personal mobility,” says GM president – and New Zealander – Dan Ammann.
“With the launch of our car-sharing service through Maven, the strategic alliance with ride-sharing company Lyft, and building on our decades of leadership in vehicle connectivity through OnStar, we are uniquely positioned to provide the high level of personalised mobility services our customers expect today and in the future.”
Maven’s first project is a car-sharing service available in Ann Arbor Michigan. GM vehicles will be available initially at 21 parking spots across the city.
Cars will be operated without keys using smartphone apps.
Existing global initiatives include peer-to-peer car-sharing through the CarUnity market place in Germany. Nearly 10,000 users have signed up in Frankfurt and Berlin since mid-2015.
Third record year
Last year the company sold 9.8 million vehicles, up 0.2% for the company’s third consecutive sales record.
“GM continued to grow in 2015 as our focus on the customer and successful new vehicle launches more than offset the challenging conditions in South America and the curtailment of our presence in certain markets such as Russia,” says Ammann.
Deliveries in North America rose 6%t in 2015 to 3.6 million cars, trucks and crossovers. In the US, GM grew its retail sales, which are sales to individual customers, faster than any other automaker.
In China, General Motors and its joint ventures delivered a record 3.6 million vehicles, up 5% compared to 2014.
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