GM’s OnStar Division has announced that it’ll no longer be GM Exclusive. The 16 year old company has been a huge success and is now finally ready to make it’s way into a more main stream market. Loosing their exclusivity to GM vehicles should catapult them into new markets they never dreamed of.
So far it’s known that OnStar will be sold at Best Buy in the spring as a stand alone unit. The OnStar unit will replace your rear view mirror with an OnStar equipped mirror and requires just a single power wire to be run. You’ll get most of the same features a GM vehicle would including :
- Automatic Crash Response
- Link to emergency services
- Stolen Vehicle Location Assistance
- Turn By Turn Navigation
- Roadside Assistance
- Hands Free Calling.
So whats the cost to be a new OnStar customer? Your looking at $299 for the unit, about $100 for the install and a monthly service plan around $19 a month. If this is like any other mobile electronic, expect to see them flooding eBay and Amazon for a fraction of the price.
This is great news for people that drive foreign cars. Now when your buddy gets a new Tahoe and raves about his OnStar you can tell him how your Prius does the same thing while using 1/4 of the gas. Priceless.