The centerpiece of the world's largest auto maker's Web plans is a version of its three-year-old Onstar system, which combines a car phone and global-positioning-system equipment to offer drivers emergency help and basic travel information. Unveiling its Web push at a trade show here last night, GM said Onstar will offer basic Internet features in cars sometime next year.

Though Onstar now has just 70,000 subscribers, GM wants one million users by the end of next year and plans to add twice that number annually thereafter.``This has gone from a little start-up with a little bit of visibility to a very major initiative,'' says Chet Huber, who worked at GM's locomotive division before he was tapped to set up Onstar. ``It could be a very big business.''

For GM, the Web offers the promise of a holy grail that manufacturing companies all over the world are chasing: turning its one-time customers into buyers of long-term services, with predictable monthly revenue streams.

The new Onstar system is still a little rudimentary, offering Web information relayed via a computerized voice over the phone. But GM is betting Onstar will give it a head start in the race to connect cars. The AutoPC, a joint Microsoft Corp. and Clarion Corp. computer that fits where car radios go, has been a slow seller, and built-in car computers still are several years away because of Detroit's drawn-out development cycles.

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG says it will provide limited Internet capabilities over the built-in car phones in its top-of-the-line models in the spring. Ford Motor Co already offers a system like Onstar, as yet without a Web link, on several of its Lincoln luxury models. A broader rollout to mass-market cars is under consideration, according to Mike Ledford, the Ford executive responsible for the systems. ``We think this technology is right on the cusp of taking off,'' he says.

Onstar, which costs $695 if bought separately, uses a built-in voice-activated car phone. The driver just presses a button to connect. Using the current system, the driver presses a button and is connected to an operator at a service center, who knows from the global-positioning technology exactly where the driver is.

The Wall Street Journal