OnStar Wins Popular Science's 2006 Best of What's New Award

TheDirections & Connections Plan With All-New OnStar Turn-by-Turn Navigation Is Honored in the Automotive Technology Category

DETROIT – General Motors industry-leading OnStar, the in-vehicle safety, security, and communications service, was recently awarded Popular Science’s 2006 Best of What’s New Award for its upgraded Directions & Connections Plan including the all-new OnStar Turn-by-Turn Navigation service. This award-winning OnStar service plan will be available in 2007 on more than 2 million GM cars and trucks in the U.S. and Canada.

“Since Popular Science honored us with the Best of What’s New Award the year we were launched in 1996, OnStar has continued to evolve by focusing on customer-driven innovation including seven generations of hardware in ten years – an achievement typically unheard of in the traditional vehicle development process,” said OnStar’s President, Chet Huber. “The newest generation of OnStar hardware, Gen 7, is the hallmark of the OnStar Directions & Connections Plan with OnStar Turn-by-Turn Navigation. We’re excited to hear that Popular Science recognizes our continued progress along with the value and differentiation our services bring to GM vehicles.”

According to a J.D. Power and Associates 1 estimate, the customer demand for factory-installed navigation systems is rapidly increasing with a 41 percent rise from the 2004 to 2005 Model Year. By offering OnStar’s Directions & Connections Plan with OnStar Turn-by-Turn Navigation to more than 2 million MY 2007 vehicles, GM is responding to this demand and significantly increasing the number of factory-installed navigation systems on North American roads.

OnStar’s Directions & Connections Plan with OnStar Turn-by-Turn Navigation was chosen among thousands of products to receive the Best of What’s New Award. Each year, the editors of Popular Science review products in search of the top 100 tech innovations of the year; breakthrough products and technologies that represent a significant leap in their categories.

“Best of What's New is the ultimate Popular Science accolade, representing a year's worth of work evaluating thousands of products,” says Mark Jannot, editor of Popular Science. “These awards honor innovations that not only influence the way we live today, but that change the way we think about the future.”

OnStar Directions & Connections Availability and Features OnStar’s Directions & Connections Plan is a standard feature during the first year of OnStar service on all Model Year (MY) 2007 Buicks and Cadillacs along with the MY 2007 GMC Acadia and MY 2007 Saab 9-7X. The Directions & Connections Plan is also available for a $100 upgrade during the first year of OnStar service across 30 additional GM MY 2007 vehicle models.

The Directions & Connections plan provides OnStar’s safety, security, and convenience services including:

OnStar Turn-by-Turn Navigation OnStar Vehicle Diagnostics Information and Convenience Services Automatic Notification of Air Bag Deployment Advanced Automatic Crash Notification Emergency Services OnStar Hands-Free Calling Remote Door Unlock Stolen Vehicle Location Assistance Roadside Assistance AccidentAssist Remote Horn and Lights The simplicity of OnStar Turn-by-Turn Navigation, which is the first fully-integrated offboard navigation service, allows a consumer to talk to an OnStar Advisor, who in turn sends complete “turn-by-turn” directions to the customer’s vehicle through their OnStar system. Voice-guided directions are then automatically played through the vehicle’s stereo as they are needed, triggered by the OnStar system’s GPS capabilities. As the simplest and smartest navigation system in North America, OnStar Turn-by-Turn Navigation offers automatic route corrections, ten million points-of-interest locations and pinpoint positioning through an enhanced GPS system.

Ten Years of Technology Innovation According to an April 2006 Accenture study, more than 80 percent of U.S. consumers want some type of telematics in their vehicle with safety and security features ranking as the top choices. Over the company’s ten-year history, OnStar has met this call by building a platform of safety, security and peace of mind services including Automatic Notification of Airbag Deployment, Remote Door Unlock, Hands-Free Calling, as well as navigation and Roadside Assistance. OnStar’s innovation continues to grow by tapping new opportunities that build off the company’s core offerings.

Since the company signed up their first subscriber in 1996, OnStar has grown to more than 4.5 million active subscribers and has assisted in more than 3.5 million emergency situations. Along with the recent introduction of OnStar Turn-by-Turn Navigation, OnStar has launched OnStar Vehicle Diagnostics, which runs hundreds of checks of the vehicle’s key operating systems and sends subscribers a monthly e-mail detailing all of the results along with important maintenance information. More than 2 million subscribers have signed up for OnStar Vehicle Diagnostics since September 2005.

About OnStar by GM OnStar, a wholly-owned subsidiary of General Motors, is the leading provider of in-vehicle safety, security and communication services. OnStar is available on more than 50 2006 GM models including one year of service becoming standard on most GM retail vehicles in the United States and Canada by the end of 2007. OnStar provides services to more than 4.5 million subscribers in the U.S. and Canada. More information about OnStar can be found at www.onstar.com.

About Popular Science Founded in 1872, Popular Science is the world’s largest science and technology magazine; with a circulation of 1.45 million and 6.5 million monthly readers. Each month, Popular Science reports on the intersection of science and everyday life, with an eye toward what’s new and why it matters. Popular Science is published by Time4 Media, a subsidiary of Time Inc., which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Time Warner Inc.

1 J.D. Power and Associates 2005 Navigation Usage and Satisfaction StudySM