GM takes new approach, new name with fleet business

LAS VEGAS — A year ago, General Motors reorganized its fleet and commercial business, giving it a new name and a simplified sales process.

The creation of GM Envolve was not just new branding, its executives say. Rather, it's a rethinking of how the automaker works with commercial customers, starting by giving them a single point of contact at GM who can manage all of their needs, from vehicles to energy management.

GM Envolve leaders say the new approach creates efficiency for a customer base that needs to maximize its productivity and uptime, which will help with business growth, both for fleet customers and for the automaker, said Sandor Piszar, vice president of GM Envolve.

"It sounds like such a simple concept, and we know a lot of our competitors say some of these things," Piszar said. "The difference is we really have operationalized it to make it work and to help our customers, and I think that's reflected in our results."

The automaker doesn't report GM Envolve's financial results separately, but rival Ford Motor Co. said its commercial unit, Ford Pro, earned $3 billion in the first quarter, demonstrating the huge profit potential in a corner of the industry once seen more as a way to offload unwanted inventory.

GM hosted about 750 fleet and commercial customers in Las Vegas last month to hear about new products and drive fleet-oriented models, including gasoline-powered pickups, Ultium-based electric vehicles and BrightDrop electric delivery vans.

Through GM Envolve, business customers have a dedicated sales account executive who can work across divisions — including vehicle purchases, EV charging equipment, and service and parts — and tailor products to specific needs. Before, a fleet customer would buy a vehicle and then hear separately from different GM divisions, such as accessories or OnStar, Piszar said, which made it difficult to understand how the pieces fit together.

Piszar said much of the business growth "is reflected in the fact that our customers do trust us and we bring them solutions, versus just trying to sell them things with siloed business units."

GM's fleet sales rose 20 percent in 2023, with deliveries to governments up 28 percent to the highest level in more than a decade. Beyond vehicle sales, data analytics offered through GM's OnStar safety and connectivity service have grown each year, he said.

The automaker has leaned more heavily on its OnStar business to offer telematics tools to fleet and commercial customers over roughly the past six years, said Michelle Calloway, director of OnStar Business Solutions. The number of paying customers has nearly doubled this year, she said.

GM has said it is aiming to bring in $20 billion to $25 billion annually in revenue from software and subscription services in 2030.

OnStar added automatic crash response and in-vehicle navigation features to its business tool for 2025 models, Calloway said. OnStar Business Solutions also has debuted Insights DualCam, which records both the driver and the road and can be viewed after an incident or crash. DualCam also can send alerts if the system detects harsh braking or distracted behavior behind the wheel.

"What we've heard from our fleet customers is that they want to protect their drivers and their assets," Calloway said.

Over time, GM aims to become more predictive with its insights technology to help fleet managers stay ahead of maintenance before a repair leads to downtime, said Dave Marsh, global vice president of GM's Customer Care and Aftersales division.

Some dealers see significant promise in the fleet segment. About a year ago, Findlay Chevrolet in Las Vegas opened a $7 million, 27,000-square-foot commercial vehicle service center with wider, taller doors and equipment that can accommodate heavier vehicles, including EVs, General Manager Doug Fleming said.

The dealership opted to focus on its retail business after Chevy exited the medium-duty truck business in 2009. That changed when the brand reentered the segment for 2019. Fleming said he and his team recognized the need for additional infrastructure to sell and service larger vehicles.

The new facility has 15 service bays. Findlay Chevrolet has three commercial sales representatives, as well as four dedicated full-time commercial fleet service advisers, with plans to expand, he said.

Fleet is "one of the big opportunities for us here," Fleming said.

GM expects a lot of fleet potential for EVs, which made up about 3.4 percent of the segment industrywide last year, Piszar said. Fleet operators have generally been slower to adopt EVs because of concerns about charging and infrastructure, he said. GM Envolve works with commercial customers to calculate their total cost of ownership, including maintenance and fuel, and to assess whether EVs would be right for them.

GM's top-selling EV last year, the Chevrolet Bolt, is on hiatus until a redesign using GM's Ultium EV battery platform arrives in 2025, but Piszar said the upcoming Equinox EV will be available to fleet buyers, along with the Blazer EV that also can be equipped as a police pursuit vehicle.

The Silverado EV launched to fleet buyers first, with two work truck trims — the 4WT and 3WT — on sale now. GM recently announced a 3WT variant called the 1FL, which provides the same 393-mile range but removes some equipment to lower the starting price to $68,895 with shipping.

"The fact that we launched it fleet-first shows the confidence we have in that product," Piszar said, "that it's a real truck and can do real truck work."