GM is expanding its offerings in the digital realm, with plans to transform OnStar to serve as the automaker’s ecommerce platform. As such, OnStar will provide GM customers with an opportunity to shop for things like various Super Cruise plans, as well as automotive insurance, SiriusXM satellite radio, and vehicle accessories, among other things.
GM’s plans to revamp the brand as its new ecommerce platform were announced during the automaker’s recent Investor Day event.
“Now today, we are all accustomed to fast, responsive, self-service shopping experiences where we can take the time to understand and tailor our favorite services,” said GM Senior Vice President, Software and Services Engineering, David Richardson. “This differs a lot from OnStar’s roots where most buyers called in an advisor on day one with their new vehicle, picked a plan, but never updated it. We’ve evolved our commerce strategy to match the trends.”
The brand originally served as the telecommunications, vehicle security, navigation, remote diagnostics, and internet access platform for various GM vehicles. Looking ahead, GM now plans to add ecommerce to the list of offerings under the OnStar umbrella.
“We’ve built a platform that is fast and responsive for customers engaging with Super Cruise, OnStar and our streaming products. It’s flexible and scalable to add future vehicle features at a faster pace and gives our product teams a full view of a customer’s life cycle to think ahead of their needs and their preferences,” Richardson said. “It functions seamlessly across channels including web, mobile, voice and on-screen in our vehicles all backed through customer support through a modern contact center platform.”
The move to fold ecommerce into the OnStar brand would help to explain the automaker’s decision to drop the Ultifi brand, as was reported over the summer. Ultifi was originally announced in 2020 and framed as an end-to-end software platform utilizing over-the-air technology to deliver software updates to connected GM vehicles. However, it was reported in early June that GM had decided to drop the Ultifi brand altogether, with one GM spokesperson explaining the decision as a means of avoiding “over-branding.”
Looking ahead, it looks as though OnStar may eventually replace GM’s individual brand apps as well, although at this point, nothing specific has been announced.
Back in 2022, GM outlined plans to generate up to $25 billion in revenue annually by 2030 through paid connected features and software-as-a-service products. No doubt OnStar will be at the center of this new strategy going forward.
Comments
I would bet you have to push the little blue button if you wish to stop services.
I’d love to know what the continuation rate for OnStar services after the initial trial period is. I bet it’s lower than most would guess. This will do nothing but encourage more to drop it.
The whole thing is probably just BS speak to fool out of touch Boomer investors and the hedge funds into buying stock.
Around 2000 when Onstar began, it was revolutionary and extraordinary. Detailed maps, turn-by-turn directions, internet access, concierge…but cell phones eventually caught up with all of it, and what Onstar offered was no longer exclusive. It makes you wonder what its purpose has been since then.
Says GM VP Richardson:
“It’s flexible and scalable to add future vehicle features at a faster pace and gives our product teams a full view of a customer’s life cycle to think ahead of their needs and their preferences,” Richardson said. “It functions seamlessly across channels including web, mobile, voice and on-screen in our vehicles all backed through customer support through a modern contact center platform.”
And that is a problem for many of us. I don’t want or need GM watching my every move, selling my driving habits to insurance companies and no telling who else. This is an invasion of privacy that I have not signed up to participate in.