通用汽车投资中国新创公司，布局租车业

通用汽车近日投资了一家开发短期汽车租赁服务的中国技术公司，这是该厂商在本土外进一步扩张的计划之一。

通用汽车在本周二表示，他们对易微行科技公司进行了投资，“作为探索中国个人出行的又一举措”。不过他们没有公布投资的额度。易微行是微租车（Feezu）的开发方，这项服务可以让传统的租车公司以小时甚至更小的时间单位来租车。

通用汽车表示，这次投资有助于他们试验不同的租车模式，进一步了解中国迅速变化的市场，更好地认识人们出行时想要使用的交通工具。

通用汽车的城市交通项目副总裁茱莉亚·斯泰恩在一份声明中表示：“每个市场在车辆共享服务领域都有其独特的需求。易微行的技术能力和创新实力，将帮助我们为中国市场探索更加高效及个性化的出行解决方案。”

今年1月，通用汽车推出了一项名为Maven的新业务，它把这家汽车厂商现有的几个试点项目集合到了一个品牌下，并进行了拓展。Maven实际上含有三项汽车服务。其中一项是Maven City，通过应用，向城市用户提供按小时计的租车服务。另一项是针对城市公寓居民，第三项则是在德国开展的P2P租车服务。

Maven的业务范围包括密歇根州安阿伯市、波士顿、芝加哥、旧金山和华盛顿。

通用汽车在今年宣布了几项举措，凸显了公司对于非传统交通的兴趣。联手打车创业公司Lyft并向其投资5亿美元，就是他们的行动之一。通用汽车希望为Lift最终打造一个自动驾驶汽车网络，让乘客不需要司机就能在城市中穿梭。

通用汽车和Lyft首先在芝加哥推出了一个名为Express Drive的短期租车项目，之后又把业务拓展到了加利福尼亚州和科罗拉多州。加州的E xpress Drive用户可以租用插电式的2016款雪佛兰（Chevrolet）Volt和2017款雪佛兰Bolt EV。

通用汽车不是唯一探索新型汽车和交通服务，研究如何把它们与自动驾驶汽车技术结合起来的公司。今年3月，通用汽车以超过10亿美元的价格收购了自动驾驶汽车初创公司Cruise Automation，引发了之后汽车业其他公司的投资和收购浪潮。

过去六个月里，苹果向中国的打车公司滴滴出行投资了10亿美元；福特收购了一家使用众包来决定哪些地方的人需要搭车，从而提供往返通勤服务的初创公司；丰田与优步进行了合作；大众汽车以3亿美元投资了打车公司Gett。宝马和戴姆勒则开展了让驾驶员以分钟为单位来租车的服务。（财富中文网）

作者：Kirsten Korosec

译者：严匡正

General Motors has invested in a Chinese technology company that has built a service for arranging short-term car rentals, part of a broader push by the automaker to expand beyond its roots.

General Motors said Tuesday it has invested an undisclosed amount in Yi Wei Xing Technology “as another move in exploring personal mobility in China.” Yi Wei Xing is the company behind Feezu, a service that can be used by traditional car rental companies to rent cars by the hour or in even smaller increments.

GM said the investment would help it experiment with different car rental models, gain insights into China’s rapidly changing market, and better learn how people want to use transportation to get from point A to B.

“Every market has its unique requirements for car-sharing services,” Julia Steyn, GM vice president of Urban Mobility Programs, said in a statement. “Yi Wei Xing has solid technologies and innovations that will help us explore more efficient and personalized mobility solutions for consumers in China.”

In January, GM introduced a service called Maven that combined and expanded several of automaker’s existing test programs under one brand. Maven is really three car services in one that includes a city-based service called Maven City that rents GM vehicles by the hour through an app, another for urban apartment dwellers, and a peer-to-peer rental service that started in Germany.

Maven operates in Ann Arbor, Mich., Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, and Washington D.C.

General Motors has announced several initiatives this year that highlight its interest in unconventional transportation, including a partnership and $500 million investment in ride-hailing startup Lyft. Eventually, GM wants to develop a network of self-driving cars for Lyft’s service that can shuttle passengers around town without a driver.

GM and Lyft started a short-term car rental program known as Express Drive, launching first in Chicago and then expanding to California and Colorado. Express Drive’s California members will have access to the plug-in electric 2016 Chevrolet Volt and the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV.

GM is hardly the only automaker experimenting with new kinds of car and transportation services, and how they may be combined with self-driving car technology. GM’s more than $1 billion acquisition of self-driving car startup Cruise Automation in March kicked off what would become a flurry of investments and acquisitions by others in the automotive industry.

In the past six months, Apple invested $1 billion in China’s ride-hailing company Didi Chuxing; Fordacquired a shuttle service startup that used crowdsourcing to determine where people needed rides; Toyota partnered with Uber; and Volkswagen invested $300 million into ride-hailing company Gett. Both BMW and Daimler operate services that let drivers rent cars by the minute.