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Can’t find your car? There’s an app for that

OnStar released an app that works with almost the entire 2011 lineup of GM vehicles that gives its subscribers remote access to many of the vehicle’s key on and off functions, diagnostics, and vehicle information. With this app, you will never need to remember anything about your car.

GM plans ‘green’ air-conditioning refrigerant for selected 2013 models

General Motors Co. plans a new greenhouse gas-friendly air-conditioning refrigerant for 2013 Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac models.

Car Tech Live 178: Taming the 2011 Shelby GT 500 (podcast)

GM takes OnStar Mobile wall to wall, Nissan promises and electric sports car with the heart of the Leaf, Honda pulls the trigger on a plug in hybrid, 2011 BMW X3 is a major redesign, ethanol fuel for cars may be on shaky ground, and we corral the 2011 Mustang …

Originally posted at Car Tech Live Podcast

GM Introduces Mobile App for Vehicles

GM is set to introduce a mobile app for many of its 2011 vehicles that will allow you to use your phone as your vehicle's key fob, start your car remotely and call up your vehicle's vital information, among other things. Autoblog reports that GM can create these features with its OnStar system while Ford’s SYNC is unable to because, “GM integrates cellular radios into the car while Ford relies …

Read more of this story at U.S. News Rankings and Reviews

GM’s Hybrid Secrets Stolen, Pitched for Sale to Chinese Competitor

By Michelle Krebs

This story has all the makings of a Robert Ludlum spy novel.

On Thursday, the U.S. government arrested a Troy, Mich., couple on charges of conspiring to steal General Motors' hybrid technology secrets and attempting to sell them to Chinese automaker Chery, a GM competitor in China.

GM’s Management of AmeriCredit Offers Chance to Show a “New GM”

By Doron Levin

If the new General Motors truly is a different company, it can ratify that claim by shrewdly managing AmeriCredit, a Texas-based subprime lender it's buying for $3.5 billion. More broadly, GM has to learn once again how to profit from automotive finance while remembering that its main business is car-making.

The old GM's management of its GMAC lending subsidiary was dreadful. In the bad old days, GMAC financing became the tail that wagged the dog, providing incentivized leases, cash rebates and 0 percent financing as catnip to shoppers unimpressed with GM's vehicles. Old GM morphed into an automaker that sold deals, not cars.

GM Gambit on Below-Prime Lending is Low-Risk

By Bill Visnic

General Motors Co.'s plan to purchase Fort Worth, TX-based auto-financing company AmeriCredit Corp. is firing speculation about GM's judgment in purchasing a finance operation that focuses on lending to those with less-than-perfect credit, but the numbers show GM's decision to hold little actual risk.

Although AmeriCredit's focus is on financing auto buyers with below-prime credit, financing buyers in that segment – and those with even lower credit scores – does not necessarily bring outsized risk. According to data from credit-information company Experian Automotive, the industry repossession rate was well less than 1 percent in the first quarter this year. And in the month of April, just 1.9 percent of all auto loans were in default.

GM to Acquire AmeriCredit for $3.5 Billion to Provide Automotive Financing

By Michelle Krebs

General Motors announced Thursday morning that it has signed an agreement to acquire AmeriCredit, one of the nation's leading independent auto finance companies, for $3.5 billion to provide automotive financing for its vehicles.

AmeriCredit becomes GM's captive financing, a function that GMAC used to perform before GM solds its controlling interest in the finance company in 2006.

"This acquisition supports our efforts to design, build and sell the world's best vehicles by expanding the financing options we can offer to consumers who want to buy GM vehicles," said GM Chairman and  CEO Ed Whitacre in a press release issued Thursday. "Adding AmeriCredit to our team will improve our competitiveness in auto financing offerings."

The two companies hold a joint press conference call Thursday morning.