DETROIT — General Motors' entry into mobility services is having an unexpected effect on its traditional business.
Maven, GM's car-sharing operation, has become an effective marketing tool for the Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicle.
Rachel Bhattacharya, director of commercial mobility products at Maven, said the Bolt has been one of the operation's most popular vehicles overall and is No. 1 among Maven's customers who drive for ride-hailing services.
Of the more than 125 million miles driven by Maven customers since the service launched in January 2016, more than 2 million were in the Bolt, which went on sale in December. Customers using Maven to drive for ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft have driven more than 60,000 passengers in Bolts, according to GM.
"We've gotten the Bolts taken at a higher rate than any of our other vehicles," Bhattacharya said last week at the Technology in Motion conference here. "It's been noticed by so many passengers that there's a potential sales channel there."