Even though its OnStar telematics system is only activated in about 400,000 cars in China, General Motors says that the service’s usage rate is sky high in the Asian country.
About 1,000,000 OnStar calls are made a month in China, GM said, which is about one third of what the automaker handles in North America. But GM has more than 6 million subscribers in this market, meaning that Chinese drivers are far more likely to press the blue OnStar button on their rearview mirror to access direction and concierge services. OnStar has been offered in North America for more than a decade, while it has only been a part of the automaker’s operations since the Shanghai OnStar joint-venture was launched in late 2009.
“It’s definitely becoming a reason to buy [a GM car] in China,” Diane Jurgens, who will become the president of Shanghai OnStar on January 1, told The Detroit News.
GM says that Chinese consumers rank OnStar as one of the five most important reasons they bought one of the Michigan automaker’s products.
References
1.’In China, OnStar…’ view
