The encyclopedia · Strategy & Leadership · Strategic decision · 2016–2020
GM's Maven car-sharing died at four: 17 cities cut to zero, mid-pandemic
GM spent four years never settling on a business model for Maven — half the cities went in 2019, the rest when the pandemic hit, and the brand was gone.
Maven · General Motors · 2020-04
What happened
Maven launched in 2016 as General Motors' car-sharing service and at its peak ran in 17 North American cities, spanning consumer rentals, peer-to-peer sharing and Maven Gig, which rented cars to rideshare and delivery drivers. GM never settled on one business model — the service kept entering and leaving cities and tweaking its programs — and lost Maven CEO Julia Steyn in January 2019.
In 2019 GM scaled back and stopped service in nearly half of the 17 cities, including Boston, Chicago and New York, leaving Detroit, Los Angeles, Washington (gig program only) and Toronto. TechCrunch noted the service 'struggled for months, long before COVID-19.'
Service was suspended in March 2020 as the pandemic spread. On 21 April 2020 GM emailed members that Maven was shutting down permanently — the pandemic was 'the final nail in the coffin' — with operations winding down through the summer. GM said Maven's technology and learnings would move to its Global Innovation organization for fleet services.
Why it happened
- No model ever won: consumer, peer-to-peer, gig rental — Maven kept reshuffling programs instead of doubling down on one that worked.
- The retreat came before the shock: nearly half the cities were cut in 2019, a year before the pandemic, because the remaining business couldn't justify them.
- The pandemic removed the last of the traffic and the last of the excuse to keep funding a four-year experiment.
The lesson
A corporate venture that keeps changing its model is reporting that no model works. Maven's four years of pivots ended not with a decision but with a pandemic giving GM permission to stop.
Aftermath
Maven Gig wound down last, with gig drivers asked to return cars only when safe. GM folded the technology into its fleet-services business; the consumer brand disappeared entirely.
Sources
- The Verge, 21 April 2020 — GM shuts down car-sharing service Maven (launched 2016; peak of 17 US cities; about half the cities cut by mid-2019 including Boston, Chicago, NYC; suspended March 2020; GM cited the pandemic as the final factor)
- TechCrunch, 21 April 2020 — GM exits car-sharing business and shuts down Maven (17 North American cities; nearly half cut in 2019; remaining Detroit, Los Angeles, Washington DC, Toronto; CEO Julia Steyn left January 2019; 'struggled for months, long before COVID-19'; assets moved to GM's Global Innovation organization)
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