We agree with you that we would like to know a long-term plan, but unfortunately that has not been revealed by GM with a significant level of detail. I do know that GM works closely with their Dealer IT Council and other such groups as the devise their strategy. I am not sure who all the members are but you may ask your GM rep to get you a listing as maybe their is a dealer from your general vicinity or franchise that you could speak with to see if they have greater insight into what the future holds with GM (or possible look in the GM Edge Publications as they may have report outs from these councils).
I do know that there are a large number of workbenches on the horizon (I often hear several dozen) and these will be rolled out of a multi-year schedule.
P.S., keep in mind that part of the GM IDMS program is that if a dealer chooses to purchase a GM IDMS Endorsed system through the GM Contracting process they are guaranteed to get all future factory integration points at no additional charge. This does not mean that if there are infrastructure changes that those are free, but the integration charges are no charge for the life of the GM Agreement (6-years) even though the dealers contract with GM is month-to-month.
If people are not familiar with IDMS, I am happy to post a topic on this and explain what this program is all about.
[This message has been edited by Matt Parsons (edited 10-09-2007).]
[This message has been edited by Matt Parsons (edited 10-09-2007).]