Jeff Schuster

General Motors is making an Internet router available as a dealer-installed option on select vehicles throughout its Buick, Cadillac, GMC and Chevrolet lineup.

The device, from Autonet Mobile, of San Francisco, creates a Wi-Fi hotspot that extends 150 feet within and around the vehicle, allowing occupants to use portable devices to tap into the Web.

Initially, the Internet access will be available only in GM’s vans, SUVs, crossovers and trucks — vehicles most likely to be used by families.

The idea is that rear-seat passengers can use laptop computers, game players and other portable devices while people in the front seat can use the connection to stream Internet radio stations into the vehicle.

“Ninety percent of customers prefer surfing the Internet over just watching movies,” Sterling Pratz, CEO of Autonet Mobile, said in a statement. “Customers want the biggest brands the Internet has to offer in their car, such as Facebook, YouTube and FlyCast Internet radio.”

The mobile device also is intended to help small businesses stay connected.

Dealers will begin offering the router this month. It is also sold on a GM accessories site, www.gmextras.com. The retail price is $499. Internet access runs about $29 a month.

The Autonet device comes with a docking station, meaning it can be moved from one GM vehicle to another.

Autonet also supplies Internet routers for Chrysler, through its Mopar accessories unit, and Volkswagen.

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Just a tiny fraction of General Motors customers have returned their cars for refunds under the automaker’s heavily advertised money-back guarantee program — and most buyers aren’t even choosing to participate in the plan, opting for a rebate instead.

About 400 vehicle buyers, or “less than 1 percent” of sales since the program launched, have signed up for GM’s 60-day money-back guarantee program, spokesman Tom Henderson said Tuesday. The rest took a $500 rebate, he said.

Of those 400 vehicles, just 15 have been returned in the four days since customers could begin doing so, Henderson said.

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Service used for first time since OnStar began offering it with 2009 models

DETROIT – When two Visalia, Calif., police officers swung their cruisers behind a sport utility vehicle that had been carjacked at gunpoint early Sunday, they prepared for a dangerous high-speed chase.

The 2009 Chevrolet Tahoe roared away with officers in pursuit, but shortly after the suspect made a right turn, operators at General Motors Co.’s OnStar service sent a command that electronically disabled the gas pedal and the SUV gradually came to a halt.

The flustered thief got out and ran, but was quickly nabbed after he climbed several fences and fell into a backyard swimming pool, police said.

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In preparation for production of the 2011 Chevrolet Cruze and Volt, General Motors announced it will invest more than $230 million in four plants around Flint, Michigan, to build components for the two vehicles.

The four GM plants to be updated include Flint Engine South, Flint Metal Center, Flint Tool and Die Center, and Grand Blanc Weld Tool Center. Functions at the plants will include development of automated equipment and tooling for the two vehicles’ assembly plants, creation of dies and stampings for body panels and various components, and assembly of key powertrain components. Final assembly of the Volt will be performed at the Hamtramck, Michigan, plant, and the Cruze will be assembled at the facility in Lordstown, Ohio.

GM will invest the largest portion of the $230 million ($202 million) in the Flint Engine South plant. This facility will be responsible for building both the Volt’s 1.4-liter normally aspirated I-4 “generator” and the Cruze’s 1.4-liter turbocharged unit. Roughly $30 million is going to the Grand Blanc Weld Tool Center to build robotic welding tools that will help assemble the Volt’s body structure. A total of $1.6 million will be invested in the Flint Metal Center, and the remainder will be allocated to the Flint Tool and Die Center.

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A U.S. market share climb to 22.4% could help silence critics of turnaround plan

General Motors’ U.S. retail market share is being projected to climb 3.3 percentage points this month over the past three months’ average.

Such a feat would be a win for GM and could help silence some industry doubters who have questioned assumptions GM used in crafting its turnaround plan.

The success of GM’s plan is largely based upon its market share expectations and overall sales growth from the historic lows of the past year.

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