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General Motors axes Maven car rental service in US, Australian future uncertain

US car giant General Motors has announced it will close its Maven car-rental service after four years, citing COVID-19 as a contributing factor. It is unclear what this will mean for Holden's Maven program.


The Maven car rental service was launched in the US in 2016, and made selected vehicles available to the public on short term leases: daily, weekly, or monthly.

Maven was introduced in Australia by Holden in 2017, originally offering vehicles to the ‘gig economy’ – including Uber and food delivery drivers – but expanded it to include private users in late 2019.

The closure of Maven in North America is expected to help General Motors save costs, following factory shutdowns and a dramatic slide in sales – and revenue – during the pandemic.

 

Drive

A spokesperson for General Motors told the Reuters news agency that money saved by axing Maven, will be redirected to parts of the company “where there is greater potential for profit and growth”.

Last month, GM paused Maven due to restrictions placed on mobility by governing bodies. While the Maven program did not perform as well as expected in the US, Holden celebrated more than 1000 members signing on by the end of its first year on the market.

However, earlier this year Drive reported that Holden was already looking to remove short-term rental and wind back the subscription service to only include long-term rentals.

Drive has reached out to Holden to see if its own Maven service will be implicated in GM’s decision and will update this story with their response.

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