The way automakers earn the bulk of their revenue has remained the same for more than a century: Customers step into dealerships once every few years and buy a new car. Now that automakers are branching into offering mobility services, however, the companies realize that their business model needs to be reconfigured to chase fickle consumers who, rather than signing new purchase or lease agreements every few years, are able to choose among various transportation options every single day.
?All that has to happen tomorrow morning is that people wake up and don?t come,? said  Rachel Bhattacharya, chief growth officer at Maven, the car-sharing brand that?s one of General Motors? principal players in the new mobility realm. ?That?s all that has to happen, and the company is dead. When you are in the services business, it?s a completely different animal. Every day, someone has to wake up and choose you. You live and die by that.? One way Maven strives to keep customers in its vehicles is by having cars available in as many markets as are profitable. To that end, the car-sharing brand launched service in Toronto early in February, opening its first location outside the United States. At the outset, Maven will have 40 vehicles available in the city, some of which start at hourly rates as low as the equivalent of U.S. $7.25.
One way that Maven differentiates itself from competitors such as Zipcar is by offering a portfolio of vehicles that range in size from the subcompact Chevro...