General Motors Killing Popular In-Vehicle App

Feb. 22, 2022 7:29 PM ET byKarl Furlong Technology /6 Comments

Millions of customers will be affected.

As great as it is to own a modern, connected vehicle that can receive new features via over-the-air software updates andsubscription services, there's also a bad side to the technology. Essentially, automakers can take away certain features as quickly as they've been added and there's not much that you can do about it.

A case in point is the Marketplace app from General Motors. It began rolling out in 2017 and allowed GM vehicle owners to do things likemake a restaurant reservationor prepay for gas via the car's touchscreen interface. But now GM is phasing out the Marketplace app on millions of vehicles as the company looks to overhaul its subscription services as a whole.

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2021-2022 Chevrolet TrailBlazer Dashboard

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2021-2022 Chevrolet TrailBlazer Infotainment System

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GM hopes to capitalize on $20-25 billion in revenue from its updated subscription services by the end of the decade, and the phasing out of the Marketplace app is part of this plan. "We view e-commerce as a key component and we're working on that," said GM spokeswoman Stephanie Obendorfer when speaking to theDetroit Free Press. "We're looking to iterate it and improve it based on the learnings from Marketplace."

Marketplace forms part of GM's Connected Access plan that's available on models like theChevrolet Trailblazerand theGMC Canyon. GM was able to offer it for free on most vehicles since merchants like Shell and Domino's Pizza subsidized the cost.

Cadillac

At GM's Investor Day in October last year, the company said it had 16 million connected vehicles and 4.2 million paying customers for GM subscription services, so many customers will be affected by the phasing out of Marketplace.

Perhaps GM's latest move doesn't come as a big surprise since most big automakers are re-evaluating their digital offerings and looking at expanding the availability of subscription-based products. In December, Stellantis said it would beinvesting around $33 billionto develop next-generation technology platforms. By 2030, Stellantis expects to have 34 million connected cars on the road generating $22.5 billion in annual revenues from these software-enabled products.

Although GM doesn't yet have an immediate replacement for the Marketplace app, customers with the app have already been notified that the service will no longer be available starting in mid-March. GM will, however, still offer its OnStar service with linked subscriptions for things like connected navigation.