INDIANAPOLIS—General Motors' booth at Work Truck Week had a different look this year—and more of a focus on fleet customers. Signs and branding promoting the new fleet-focused business unit GM Envolve replaced the familiar Chevrolet logo from years past, signaling a changing mindset for the Big 3 automaker.
While it might look to some as a rebrand of GM Fleet, the company’s fleet program, Sandor Piszar, VP of GM Envolve, said it goes “way beyond” a simple rebranding.
“It's really about how do we leverage the full suite of products and services that General Motors has to offer to help our customers grow their business,” Piszar said.
What’s different about GM Envolve?
The goal of the new structure is to better support fleets and help them grow, according to Piszar, and the structure was built through research and listening to fleet customers—everyone from “Fortune 500 companies on down to small mom-and-pop, local businesses.”
One way GM hopes to accomplish this is by giving fleets one point of contact for all GM fleet products and services. This means that fleet leaders will only have to reach out to one person for solutions ranging from OnStar service, GM Energy, GM Financial, data and analytics, insights, and other GM brands and offerings. Fleet decision-makers will no longer need a long list of contacts for various GM needs.
Through GM Envolve, fleets will not only be able to take advantage of GM’s “size, our breadth of product, our depth of understanding of the fleet commercial business, and our history but also our dealer network,” Piszar told FleetOwner, Fleet Maintenance's sister publication.
He gave an example with 40-year GM customer AutoZone. Through GM Envolve, AutoZone purchased Chevrolet Colorados, and then decided to add protective floor liners in the trucks. AutoZone’s GM Envolve representative facilitated the purchase of floor liners through GM’s accessory department. Piszar said the company then became interested in route optimization and tracking driver safety, so then GM Envolve helped set up AutoZone with OnStar Business Solutions.
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When AutoZone expressed interest in acquiring electric vehicles, Piszar said GM Envolve was there to guide the fleet again, helping implement Chevrolet Bolts into the fleet and then helping facilitate charging infrastructure through GM Energy.
“It's a good example of that full package that General Motors can bring that, really, other competitors cannot,” Piszar told FleetOwner. “It's all about the products and services we have, and we have a broader portfolio across ICE and EV than other competitors. All of that is really what makes up GM Envolve.”
GM Envolve can help fleets plan for the future
While GM has announced its intent to build fully electric vehicles by 2035, GM Envolve is focused on meeting a fleet’s needs today, whether that means helping them usher EVs into their fleet or continuing to operate ICE vehicles.
“If [a fleet is] ready to transition to EVs or if they have questions, we've got a great product lineup,” Piszar said. “Usually their next question is ‘OK, what about charging infrastructure and chargers?’ Through GM energy, we're able to meet those needs too. But if they're not yet ready to make that transition, we've got a full portfolio of ICE products that meet their needs as well.”
This article was originally published on FleetOwner.com.
