General Motors has announced that it will be expanding its OnStar service to vehicles sold in Mexico starting next year.

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Everyone had to know this was coming the second General Motors announced the For My Vehicle (FMV) OnStar system, an aftermarket setup that can be implemented on any vehicle. The second OnStar’s FMV would help recover a Chrysler, there would be news about it – and here it is.

Last weekend, on December 18th, Jean Franklin of Gresham, Oregon had her stolen 2006 Chrysler 300 recovered thanks to OnStar FMV, making it the first case of a recovered car with the aftermarket mirror. And GM probably couldn’t have had it better for their first success story, not just being a Chrysler, but having the recovery time a mere 64-minutes after the original call was placed by Franklin.

OnStar, a wholly-owned subsidiary of General Motors, helps recover more than 500 stolen GM vehicles a month and can now aid in recovering any stolen vehicle, GM competitor or not.

OnStar’s FMV is priced at $199 plus installation with monthly service charges of $18.95/month or $199/year.

GM’s MyLink, available starting with the 2012 Chevrolet Volt and Equinox, will offer smartphone charging, Pandora radio streaming, GraceNote music identification, Bluetooth, XM satellite radio, voice activation, OnStar, and USB inputs, in case listening to drive-time radio is too crushing for commuters.

The MyLink comes hot on the heels of Ford’s SYNC as an inevitable comparison. But unlike the SYNC, MyLink includes the full power of GM’s OnStar behind it, for starters. It will also come with Powermat charging for the smartphones that you won’t need to fiddle with once behind the wheel. And, uh, that’s about it. Functionality between the two infotainment systems is remarkably similar otherwise, which makes you wish that GM had introduced this earlier.

The MyLink includes a 7″ full-color touchscreen standard, which controls climate control and navigation operations. The first GM cars that will be equipped with it later this year will be the Chevrolet Volt and the Equinox, before the rest of the General Motors lineup.

GM and Google are reportedly working on a deal that would see the integration of Google’s Android mobile phone operating system and GM’s Onstar telematics system.

Potentially scenarios being discussed involve Android phone users being able to use OnStar features outside of their car, while GM vehicle owners can use Android to keep track of service intervals, or in the case of the Chevrolet Volt, data regarding vehicle range and battery charging.

A GM/Google partnership would represent a significant challenge to Ford and Microsoft’s SYNC system, which is primarily an in-car entertainment system, albeit with significant voice activated functions designed to minimize driver distractions.

[Source: Automotive News]