Dick Genthe Chevrolet: GM will launch improved OnStar | detnews.com

Last Updated: September 15. 2010 1:00AM

GM will launch improved OnStar

Carmaker aims at younger buyers, while taking on Ford's Sync

Christina Rogers / The Detroit News

General Motors Co. is overhauling its OnStar brand to make it more appealing to younger, more tech-savvy buyers, and to take on crosstown rival Ford Motor Co.'s popular Sync system.
The Detroit-based automaker plans to add several features to its OnStar service lineup and create a sub-brand of mobile apps for its four vehicle brands.

Advertisement

GM will highlight these changes in a nationwide advertising campaign set to launch Monday. OnStar, with 5.5-million subscribers, has built a reputation for safety and vehicle theft protection but GM officials want to expand it to include more information and entertainment options.

The new ads will feature OnStar's new tagline, "LiveOn," and TV commercials will show drivers using various aspects of OnStar -- such as its turn-by-turn directions and mobile apps -- with music by indie rock band "Modest Mouse."
"As we re-launch the brand, we wanted to stretch the definition of what OnStar means because it's going to do more things," said OnStar President Chris Preuss.
The move comes as competition heats up among automakers trying to outdo each other on their in-car tech offerings.
Once a leader in this area, GM has since lost ground to rival automakers who've done a better job meshing the technology with music and other entertainment. GM debuted OnStar in 1995.
"I got to give props to the guys down in Dearborn," Preuss said, referring to Ford Motor Co.'s Sync system. "If they've done anything effectively with the power of Sync, it's not so much on the technology as it's been translating that technology to the customers' benefit."
Ford introduced Sync in 2007. The technology, developed with Microsoft Corp., allows drivers to control cell phones and music players with voice commands. Ford has since built upon Sync, introducing its MyFord Touch this year. The system replaces most of analog controls with full-color computer screens and touch-sensitive buttons.
Kia Motors Corp. this year debuted its own version of Sync, UVO, which allows drivers to use voice- and touch-activated controls.
"The experience you have living inside the car is going to be as important to the next generation of buyers as the exterior and fuel economy has been to previous generations," said James Bell, an executive market analyst with Kelley Blue Book.
As a subscription business, OnStar has been "extremely profitable" for GM, Preuss said, declining to give exact dollar figures. But GM's new leadership saw OnStar as an under-valued and under-marketed technology, Preuss said.
He noted that many of its incoming executives, including CEO Daniel Akerson, have backgrounds in telecommunications.
In re-launching the OnStar brand, GM has upgraded the hardware -- now in its ninth generation -- to make several new features possible, including technology that allows drivers to get traffic updates and severe weather alerts.
MyLink, a new OnStar sub-brand, will be available in October for its 2011 model year vehicles. MyLink offers mobile apps for each of the GM brands. Using the program, drivers can remotely control functions on their cars and trucks using a smart phone.
OnStar also is testing software to enable drivers to verbally update their Facebook pages and have text messages read to them aloud. The new advertising campaign will span multiple outlets, including TV, radio and the Web and be tied closely to its car and truck brand marketing, an effort led by GM's new vice president of U.S. marketing, Joel Ewanick.
"This has a lot to do with Ford introducing Sync in the Fusion a few years ago," said Bell. "GM was looking a bit delinquent in that space."
Bell said OnStar already is a technological "pot of gold" but said "I've always thought it wasn't marketed enough."
cvrogers@detnews.com (313) 222-2300