1972 Buick Skylark Custom Hardtop 2-door 5.7l on 2040-cars

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GM puts e-commerce shopping in car dashboards

DETROIT — General Motors on Tuesday said it will equip newer cars with in-dash e-commerce technology, betting it can profit as drivers order food, find fuel or reserve hotel rooms by tapping icons on the dashboard screen, instead of using smartphones while driving. GM's Marketplace technology, developed with IBM, will be uploaded automatically to about 1.9 million model-year 2017 and later vehicles starting immediately, with about 4 million vehicles across the Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac brands equipped with the capability in the United States by the end of 2018, GM said. GM will get an undisclosed amount of revenue from merchants featured on its in-dash Marketplace, Santiago Chamorro, GM vice president for global connected customer experience, said during a briefing for reporters. Customers will not be charged for using the service or the data transmitted to and from the car while making transactions, he said. "This platform is financed by the merchants," Chamorro said. GM will get paid for placing a merchant's application on its screens, and "there's some level of revenue sharing" based on each transaction, he said. It is too soon to say how much revenue GM could realize from the Marketplace system, he said. The GM Marketplace will compete for customer clicks and revenue with hand-held smartphones, which offer a far richer array of applications than the GM system will at the outset. Amazon.com is partnering with other automakers, including Ford, to offer in-car e-commerce capability through Amazon's Alexa personal assistant system. For example, GM will launch Marketplace with just Shell and Exxon Mobil icons in the fuel category. The only restaurant available for in-car table reservations at launch is the chain TGI Fridays, GM said. In addition, there will be apps for parking, and ordering ahead at coffee shops and restaurants such as Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts and Applebee's. "We will be adding more vendors," with some coming in the first quarter of 2018, Chamorro said. In addition, he said GM plans to expand integration into its vehicles of music, news and other information services. GM also hopes to use its in-car Marketplace connections to expand purchases of products and services, such as additional access to in-car wifi, from its own replacement parts business and dealer network. Customers can "expect to see more service promotions coming through the platform," Chamorro said. Reporting by Joe WhiteRelated Video:

Watch this phantom Buick drive itself down the highway in a snow storm

Years ago, General Motors used Buick cars to test out the idea of a "smart highway" concept. More recently, GM has been talking up its award-winning Super Cruise semi-autonomous technology that will roll out with Cadillac and make its way to Buick. The LeSabre in the video above has nothing to do with any of that.
On Interstate 15 in Utah, a man driving this LeSabre got into an accident that rearranged the front end and set the horn on permanent blare. At the time of writing this, no one is sure what happened next, but the man ended up sitting in the snow in the highway median while his car carried on down the highway without him. Passing traffic stayed well to the right.
The 51-second video below provides a different take on our autonomous future. A local newscast on KUTV covered the story the evening of the incident, but the Utah Highway Patrol didn't have any update on the fate of the LeSabre. We'll take that to mean that Buick's take on Christine could still be out on the prowl... so watch out!

Sell-it-yourself: 1998 Buick Century Limited

Looking to sell your car? We make it safe, easy, and free. Quickly create listings with up to six photos and reach millions of buyers. Log in and create your free listings. Well before Buick was tight with the Chinese, it was working to reconnect with middle class America. Of course, there's the middle class, and then there's the aspirational middle class. For them, near the end of the 20th Century, Buick offered the Buick Century and its better-zip-code derivative, the Century Limited. Having attended the Buick press launch about this time, the Century was – and is – what we'd call tidy in proportion and clean in its detailing. Its interior design and execution might have leaned toward old school, but the exterior surfaces were responsibly devoid of affectation. In short, almost twenty years ago we would have judged this to be sheetmetal that, if not defying age, would have certainly resisted aging. And we'll stand by that today. Our for sale example, nineteen years old and showing just over 111,000 miles, looks to deliver ample bang for the buck, especially when talking only 2,500 of those bucks. From the photos, this Buick seems to have come from a good home, even if the passenger rear door reflects what we used to call a whiskey ding, and is now - probably - a mojito ding. While kicking tires in West Palm Beach, note the custom wheels; they, too, are limited. Shop for the listing here. Buick Car Buying Used Car Buying Ownership Sedan