Ride Acquires GMC, an Automotive Education and Consulting Company

Electric vehicle (EV) specialized platform company Ride announced on the 11th that it has completed the acquisition and merger of GMC, which provides education and consulting services for major automobile brands.

Ride operates the EV specialized test drive and purchase platform app ‘Ridenow’ and the corporate vehicle management app ‘Ridecare.’ Founded in 2021 by CEO Mincheol Lee, a former Tesla employee, the company expanded its business scope to cover the entire lifecycle of both electric and internal combustion engine vehicles by fully acquiring and merging ‘Sky Auto Service,’ a leading domestic automobile repair industry player, in July 2023.

The GMC acquired and merged by Ride this time is a company responsible for various fields of education and consulting, including technical training, targeting automobile manufacturers, importers, and dealers. Established in 2008, it has conducted over 1,400 global projects as a partner of major domestic automobile brands and leading overseas imported car brands.

Ride plans to provide EV education utilizing GMC’s educational expertise and infrastructure to its existing network of over 1,200 vehicle repair shops, thereby laying the groundwork to solve the shortage of EV repair shops, which has been pointed out as an obstacle to the growth of the EV market.

Currently, there are not many repair shops in Korea that can safely repair high-voltage batteries with a high risk of electric shock. As a result, most EV owners hesitate to attempt repairs. Official service centers are almost the only repair channels, and the average repair period far exceeds one month. Ride intends to overcome this situation and provide EV education to promote mutual growth with small and medium-sized repair shops.

Mincheol Lee, CEO of Ridenow, recently signed an exclusive B2B vehicle sales contract with a premium EV brand and stated, “With this acquisition and merger, all preparations to reach Ride’s ultimate vision have been completed,” emphasizing, “We will accelerate our steps to dominate the EV market through Ride’s expertise and assets in the EV field.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.