4 ms·

I really like this play - GM can undercut other organizations that are forced to purchase their vehicles, as well as realizing savings on maintenance. Over time

by Qworg 11y ago

I really like this play - GM can undercut other organizations that are forced to purchase their vehicles, as well as realizing savings on maintenance. Over time, they can slowly strangle competitors in the car manufacturing business - users lower their usage of personal vehicles, due to easy access to Maven vehicles. Then they switch away to Maven permanently. It also sets them up, in the long term, to run a self-driving car organization. It establishes the brand, service, and the maintenance organization.

bliti 11y ago
They also can influence and downright force infrastructure updates to better serve the self driving vehicles.
mc32 11y ago
And, one hopes a benefit to those who might prefer ownership, they might build even more durable easier to maintain vehicles. The anti apple approach to manufacturing improvement. [apple and co depending on voluntary obsolescence and difficult repairs]
- Eric_WVGG 11y ago
  Huh, that’s weird. My first thought was, “better quality manufacturing that feels like they last for goddamn ever, like my Macbooks and iPhones.” YMMV I guess
  - mc32 11y ago
    Mac build quality is fine. It's their accessibility and repairability with standard industry components.
bane 11y ago
I thought this was weird at first too, but the more I think on it and the more I realize how much of GM's output just ends up in fleets anyway, the more I realize how much it makes a kind of sense.
- skewart 11y ago
  Except that I doubt they'd want their entire output to end up in fleets. The margins are far lower. The whole trend away from personal ownership of cars is very bad for manufacturers because it changes the buying decision from an emotional one to a carefully calculated business one. People are generally willing to pay far higher margins when emotions are involved. I suspect they feel they have no choice but to get involved in this trend, and are very unhappy that they're doing this.

by Qworg 11y ago

bliti 11y ago

They also can influence and downright force infrastructure updates to better serve the self driving vehicles.

mc32 11y ago

And, one hopes a benefit to those who might prefer ownership, they might build even more durable easier to maintain vehicles. The anti apple approach to manufacturing improvement. [apple and co depending on voluntary obsolescence and difficult repairs]

Eric_WVGG 11y ago
Huh, that’s weird. My first thought was, “better quality manufacturing that feels like they last for goddamn ever, like my Macbooks and iPhones.” YMMV I guess
- mc32 11y ago
  Mac build quality is fine. It's their accessibility and repairability with standard industry components.

bane 11y ago

I thought this was weird at first too, but the more I think on it and the more I realize how much of GM's output just ends up in fleets anyway, the more I realize how much it makes a kind of sense.

skewart 11y ago
Except that I doubt they'd want their entire output to end up in fleets. The margins are far lower. The whole trend away from personal ownership of cars is very bad for manufacturers because it changes the buying decision from an emotional one to a carefully calculated business one. People are generally willing to pay far higher margins when emotions are involved. I suspect they feel they have no choice but to get involved in this trend, and are very unhappy that they're doing this.