金融时报:通用试水汽车共享

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2021年10月16日

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通用试水汽车共享

美国最大的汽车厂商正在押注这样一个趋势：未来将有更多的人选择不拥有汽车。

测试中可能遇到的词汇和知识：

connoisseur行家[,kɒnə'sɜː]

outright全部的，一直的[aʊt'raɪt]

nebulous朦胧的['nebjʊləs]

dweller居民['dwɛlɚ]

depreciate轻视，贬值[dɪ'priːʃɪeɪt; -sɪ-]

defunct非现存的[dɪ'fʌŋ(k)t]

General Motors launches new car-sharing service（528words）

By Andy Sharman in London

General Motors has unveiled a new car-sharing brand just weeks after investing $500m in ride-hailing service Lyft, as big carmakers prepare for a future in which drivers no longer own vehicles.

he new service — called Maven, a word used to describe connoisseurs who understand the latest trends — debuted this week in Ann Arbor, Michigan as a city-based car-sharing service.

Similar schemes will be launched in Chicago and expanded in New York. GM also has peer-to-peer car-sharing schemes in Frankfurt and Berlin.

GM, like other traditional carmakers, is concerned about a generational shift from outright ownership to the more nebulous concept of “mobility”. Apps like Uber and Lyft, which provide taxis summoned by smartphone, and car-sharing groups including Zipcar pose a big threat to the way automobiles have historically been sold.

If cars become shared, interchangeable vehicles, companies like GM stand to lose their direct relationship with many customers.

“GM is at the forefront of redefining the future of personal mobility,” said GM president Dan Ammann, announcing Maven on Thursday.

Mr Ammann told the Financial Times last year that the motor car — upon which the company's 107-year history is built — was now seen as inappropriate by many urban dwellers, because it depreciates “fairly rapidly, you use it 3 per cent of the time, and you pay a vast amount of money to park it for the other 97 per cent of the time”.

GM said it had poached ride-hailing and car-sharing specialists from Google, Zipcar and Sidecar, a now defunct Uber rival that GM acquired earlier this week.

GM is not the only carmaker pushing into car-sharing. Cross-town rival Ford last week launched its FordPass app, which bundles together the company's various mobility projects.

German carmakers have also started down this road. BMW is trying DriveNow sharing scheme — which has Minis, 1-Series cars and electric i3s — in nine cities — and Daimler has the Mercedes me brand. Toyota has run several trials in Japan and Europe.

“The carmakers are fighting to be seen as assailants and not victims as the industry faces disruption,” said George Galliers, analyst at Evercore ISI. “However, until mobility services result in meaningful sales and earnings which manufacturers are prepared to break out and disclose, the market is unlikely to give the companies much credit.”

Julia Steyn, head of urban mobility at GM, said: “With more than 25m customers around the world projected to use some form of shared mobility by 2020, Maven is a key element of our strategy [towards] changing ownership models in the automotive industry.”

Maven customers can use a smartphone app to search for and reserve vehicles by location or car type and unlock the vehicle using the same device. The app also enables remote functions such as starting, heating or cooling and more.

Customers will also be able to link into in-car systems such as Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, as well as GM's own connected car platform, OnStar. The cars also offer 4G wireless connections.

All the cars are from GM's Chevrolet brand and include the Volt plug-in hybrid; the Malibu sedan and the Tahoe sport utility vehicle. Prices start at $6 an hour, or $42 a day.

请根据你所读到的文章内容，完成以下自测题目：

1.What kind of services is Maven?

A.car-sharing

B.ride-hailing

C.driver-sharing

D.mobile car eash

答案(1)

2.Which one will not pose a big threat to the way automobiles have historically been sold?

A.Uber

B.Lyft

C.Zipcar

D.Tesla