GM in talks with other automakers on Onstar

By Poornima Gupta and Kevin Krolicki

DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors CorpGM.N, just weeks from a deadline to restructure its operations, is in talks with other automakers to provide its OnStar telematics services to rivals, the division's president said on Wednesday.

GM began reaching out to rivals late last year about the profitable OnStar service and talks with other automakers center on partnering mainly in the United States, OnStar President Chet Huber told Reuters in an interview.

"We made a few phone calls," Huber told Reuters said. "We did some outreach."

OnStar is wholly owned by GM, which is surviving on U.S. government loans. It faces a June 1 restructuring deadline set by the Obama administration for it to reach agreements with all of its key stakeholders, including bondholders who have criticized GM's plans for a debt exchange.

Should the restructuring fail, GM would join U.S. rival Chrysler in bankruptcy.

GM first offered OnStar to drivers in 1997 and in 2005 announced that the service would be a standard feature for all of its retail customers in the United States and Canada.

OnStar, which is capable of alerting emergency services when air bags deploy, assisting authorities in locating stolen vehicles and remotely unlocking doors when keys are left inside, was seen as a way for GM vehicles to differentiate themselves in the crowded U.S. market.

But with No.1 U.S-based automaker GM reviewing all of its options, executives have said that everything is on the table.