Page 24 - ARUBA TODAY

Monday 21 august 2017 BUSINESS
A24

Insider Q&A: General Motors learning the rental business

Bolts and big SUVs like the tion... wants the fractional for work and going places.
Chevrolet Equinox and ownership of it. So it’s very And in L.A., it’s very region-
Cadillac Escalade. That’s important for automak- al. People don’t go from
good exposure for GM, ers... to become a service one part of L.A. to another
which says the typical Ma- provider and interact with very often. But all in all, we
ven user is 30 years old. The the customer in a different see very strong growth in
company is just starting to way. And being a service every market. It’s natural,
track whether users are provider is very different. because I think people are
more likely to purchase a You have different cus- getting more familiar with
GM car after driving them tomer habit formation, dif- who we are.
through Maven. “We’re not ferent marketing, you need
running after shiny objects. to have a platform that you Q. Is Maven profitable?
We’re building a service can integrate the offerings A. Some parts of what
capability and a platform,” and differentiate the offer- we’re developing are,
says Julia Steyn, GM’s vice ings. It’s not just the vehicle obviously, an investment,
president for Urban Mobility and an app. It’s the whole whether you look at infra-
and Maven. Steyn recently ecosystem around this that structure development, the
talked to The Associated you have to develop as a technology development
This photo provided by General Motors Co. shows Julia Steyn, Press about Maven. An- service to make sure you’re and growth. We always
GM’s vice president for Urban Mobility and Maven. GM started
its Maven car-sharing service in 2016, which has grown swers have been edited successful. It’s understand- have to, especially being
exponentially since then. and condensed. ing how all of your assets a year-and-a-half old, in-
(Lians Jadan/Courtesy of General Motors Co. via AP) interact together. vest in the growth and the
By DEE-ANN DURBIN Gig expanded into Los An- Q. Why is it important for platform. However, and
AP Auto Writer geles earlier this month; it’s an automaker to offer this Q. Are customers in differ- we do look at it this way,
DETROIT (AP) — General coming to Boston, Phoenix, kind of service? Why not ent cities using Maven dif- what does Maven as an
Motors Co. started its car- Washington, Baltimore and just build cars and let oth- ferently? investment bring to the rest
sharing service, Maven, just Detroit this fall. ers rent them? A. What is different city by of the corporation? GM is
over a year ago, placing Maven is now moving onto A. It comes from where the city is the commuter pat- better off with Maven, so
Chevrolets and Cadillacs in college campuses. This customer preferences are. terns and ultimately the we’re clearing more than
New York apartment build- week, it became the ex- You look at the chang- end use of what people 100 percent return on the
ings for occupants to rent. clusive car-share provider ing environment and you are using the vehicle for. investment. We’re looking
Since then, the service to the University of South- clearly see a very growing In New York, there’s great at it holistically: Develop-
has grown exponentially. ern California. Students will part of the population who public transportation, so ing the capability for trans-
Maven is still working with be able to rent vehicles for wants to interact with cars the vehicles are used for portation as a service, the
apartment dwellers, but it $5 per hour, a lower rate in a different way, and it’s traveling on the weekends. technology, the infrastruc-
is also offering hourly and than Maven’s usual start- not ownership. I’m a big be- They’re also used to run er- ture, the data, fleet man-
daily rental cars in 17 North ing price of $8. College ad- liever that the preference rands, whether on an hourly agement, the ability to in-
American cities. It also of- ministrators will have their for ownership will continue, basis or longer term. People teract with the customers.
fers Maven Gig, a service own dedicated vehicle to and it will be determined just want to get out of the All of this adds to what we
that lets people rent cars reserve. Maven now has by what you do, where city. In Chicago, we find a do and doesn’t cannibal-
to do odd jobs, like ride- 7,000 total vehicles in its you live and how you de- lot of work time usage. We ize the core business, so on
hailing for Lyft or delivering fleet, including hundreds ploy the vehicle. But the see in the financial district the enterprise-wide view,
food for GrubHub. Maven of all-electric Chevrolet growth part of this popula- that people are using this we’re doing very well. q

China to limit overseas investments in real estate, sports

BEIJING (AP) — China’s on a string of foreign acqui- deal and also bought film At the same time, it en- “There are great opportuni-
government is moving to sitions, citing concerns that production house Legend- courages companies to ties for our nation’s compa-
curb domestic compa- the companies involved ary Entertainment for $3.5 plow money into projects nies to embark on foreign
nies’ investments abroad in may be taking on too billion. related to the “Belt and investment, but they also
property, sports, entertain- much debt. The Cabinet document lim- Road” project, President Xi face numerous risks and
ment and other fields, fol- One of those conglomer- its overseas investments in Jinping’s signature foreign challenges,” the docu-
lowing a series of high-pro- ates, Wanda Group, be- areas such as hotels, cin- policy initiative that seeks ment said.
file, multibillion-dollar ac- came the world’s biggest emas, the entertainment to link China with other Through the new guidance,
quisitions by Chinese firms. cinema operator with its industry, real estate and parts of Asia and eastern the government hopes to
A document released this purchase of a majority sports clubs. Europe through multibillion promote the “rational, or-
weekend by the State stake in U.S. chain AMC in It also bans outright invest- dollar investments in ports, derly and healthy develop-
Council, China’s Cabinet, 2012 for $2.6 billion. It add- ments in enterprises related highways, railways, power ment of foreign investment
was the latest move by ed rival Carmike Cinemas to gambling and the sex in- plants and other infrastruc- while effectively guarding
regulators to tap the brakes Inc. last year in a $1.2 billion dustry. ture. against risks,” it said. q