GM Envolve Launched to Simplify Fleet Business Needs

General Motors is launching GM Envolve – a one-stop customer experience designed with input from fleet customers and dealers to make tapping into all the products and services GM offers easier. 

At GM’s annual Fleet Solutions Summit, Steve Carlisle, president, GM North America, revealed GM Envolve to an audience of nearly 850 business customers and dealers, noting that GM Fleet is being reimagined as a one-stop business-to-business/business-to-government (B2B/B2G) partner. 

GM Envolve is a brand-new business unit led by Steve Hill, vice president of GM’s commercial growth strategies and operations. Ed Peper will oversee day-to-day operations and all fleet vehicle sales as U.S. vice president of GM Envolve.

“We’ve been talking to customers all along the way. GM Envolve customers can access the entire ecosystem through one single touchpoint. Our account executives will be more than just representatives of GM. We want them to be part of the customer’s team. They are solving customer pain points and mobility and coming up with solutions. They are our eyes and ears in the field to develop ideas to help us succeed. We are flipping the org chart completely on its head. The customer is at the center of it, supported by the account executive. At GM, we support the account executive,” Hill explained. 

GM Fleet continues to deliver strong sales results, achieving its best first quarter of commercial fleet sales since 2006 — making GM the leader in fleet and commercial sales in the U.S. 

Powering Leaders to Stay Ahead of Change with a Range of Fleet Solutions

 

GM North America is about to begin a new era of rapid growth by giving business customers more ways to help reduce their environmental impact, streamline fleet operations, and increase driver safety. 

“GM Envolve will leverage the complete power of General Motors to offer the best solutions to customers and further reinforce why we’ve increased our fleet sales for five consecutive quarters,” Carlisle said. “Today begins the GM Envolve journey, where we will bring our customers in to create tailored solutions to meet their unique business challenges.” 

“Some talk a big game. We’re changing the game. Outsmart Change.” – GM Envolve

In today’s dynamic and competitive market, the automaker shared that GM Envolve will prepare customers to stay ahead of change through a streamlined set of products and services tailored to their business’s current and future needs. 

GM expects to gain operating efficiencies and create more revenue-generating opportunities for current and future customers through this new approach. 

From a revenue perspective, while GM could not share exact figures, Hill noted, “There is huge opportunity.” 

GM has piloted this program with a few of its key customers and noted the results have been encouraging, not just for GM but for the customers themselves.

“We can say we are working closely with OnStar business solutions, which have 520,000 paying customers in the fleet space, which will contribute to the revenue that we are looking forward to,” Peper said.

What Does GM Envolve Mean to Commercial Fleets & Business Customers? 

Customers can access the connected GM ecosystem through a single account executive. This single sales touchpoint will simplify the purchasing experience and serve as an extension of the customers’ team, bringing new energy and ideas with a holistic problem-solving mindset. 

A dedicated team of experts will back these account executives to help identify and curate a package of GM’s technologies and innovative solutions for each customer’s business. GM Envolve customers can also manage their GM portfolio through an upcoming digital platform. 

With GM Envolve, customers will seamlessly access every GM platform and solution for both internal combustion engine (ICE) and electric vehicles.

Specifically, these products and services include:

• Mobility: Products and services are designed to keep businesses moving smarter and more productively through our vehicle brands, GM Genuine Parts, AC Delco, and Certified Service and Accessories. 
• Energy: A comprehensive set of solutions designed to provide commercial operations with greater energy management and resiliency through holistic offerings, including stationary storage, integrated charging, cloud management, and GM’s HYDROTEC fuel cell technology.
• Delivery: A portfolio of hardware and software solutions through BrightDrop, designed to revolutionize commercial delivery and logistics and create a smarter, safer, and more sustainable movement of goods. 
• Insight: Intelligent software designed to optimize operations through data-driven insights while protecting people and assets through OnStar Business Solutions.
• Growth: Holistic consultancy services designed to help customers maximize performance and accelerate new growth through our deep knowledge of products, EV infrastructure, energy, finance, sustainability, tech, and more. 

The foundation of GM Envolve will be working together with each customer to create a solutions package tailored to their unique needs.

In addition, the updated structure will allow the company to collaborate better and increase communication within its business units, including GM Energy and BrightDrop, to ensure a clear communication process and avoid “stepping on each other’s toes.”

“We are consolidating our sales team into GM Envolve,” Peper explained in answer to a question during a media briefing. “The business teams will be turned into subject-matter experts. The entrepreneurial spirit we see with BrightDrop and GM Energy is all part of the same thing. All the business units that serve B2B customers will work more closely together to leverage our power and solutions to help our customers."

Peper and Hill emphasized they are not getting rid of business units, just “streamlining the points of contact.”

GM Envolve customers can also manage their portfolio through a digital platform the company will share more details about soon.

Hill shared that the portal is being developed specifically for fleet.

“We are not taking a customer eCommerce solution. We are making it so fleets can manage their portfolio services with us. It’s just another tool to make it easier to do business with GM,” Hill said.

The Fleet Dealers Role in GM Envolve

Regarding franchise dealers, Peper stated they are an integral part of this program.

“In the continental U.S., we have a GM dealer approximately every 9 miles. We are going to get more involved with our dealers than we ever have before. Our dealers will help us, along with GM Financial, to get more of the business at the dealer level for the smaller fleets. There is a lot of dealer enthusiasm,” Peper noted.  

Commercial Fleet Needs Being Better Met 

GM understands fleets’ specific pain points when it comes to streamlining the procurement process and improving vehicle maintenance costs and related uptime.

AutoZone, the nation’s largest retailer of aftermarket parts and accessories, has a 40-plus-year relationship with GM. They are the No. 1 purchaser of Chevrolet Colorado midsize trucks.

“At AutoZone, we have and will forever be committed to supporting a more sustainable world for all and for generations to come,” said Bill Rhodes, chairman, president, and CEO of AutoZone Inc. “Today, we experience the positive impacts GM has on our business by purchasing their vehicles, parts, and telematics services. Still, we see the potential for accelerated growth through collaboration with GM Envolve and energy and mobility solutions.” 

Over the years, AutoZone’s partnership with GM has gone beyond vehicles, including non-vehicle services such as the OnStar telematics platform. 

The company also recently added its first Chevrolet Bolt order for electric vehicles. AutoZone noted that the Bolts would be utilized for delivering parts later this summer. 

“Our customers are telling us they want a one-stop shop. This single touchpoint simplifies the experience for the customer. We are going to play in both camps. We will continue to sell ICE and electric vehicle products. We are not splitting them up. We are selling them all together,” Peper concluded.

GM Envolve is a solution for fleets, regardless of powertrain or vehicle needs. 

“It’s about the fleet customers getting what they need,” Peper concluded.