General Motors (NYSE:GM) is set to benefit big time from its new Maven car sharing app that allows GM car owners to lease their vehicles, garnering both the vehicle owner and the company an additional form of income in the process.
Maven is the car manufacturer’s mobility unit and it allows people who own or lease Chevrolet, Buick, GMC or Cadillac vehicles from the model year 2015 or late in certain cities to make money by lending their cars. The company is testing the peer-to-peer car sharing offering through the Maven App in the Midwest at the moment, namely Detroit, Ann Arbor and Chicago.
The GM service is called Peer Cars and it gives users the option of listing their cars on the Maven app for people to rent when the owners aren’t using them. The owner will be able to keep 60% of the revenue from renting the car, while Maven rakes in the rest.
The automotive giant was likely inspired by businesses such as Airbnb, which allows people to list their properties for consumers to rent for short periods of time. Julia Steyn, vice president of GM Urban Mobility and Maven, said that the demand for car sharing is at a relatively high point at the moment, meaning that the Maven venture could be quite profitable.
GM stock was up about 0.1% on Tuesday following the news.
