IN the next two years Vauxhall, Saab and Cadillac company car drivers will be checking on up-to-the-minute e-mails, bank details, stock market values and football scores through the internet in their cars. General Motors plans to equip the cars in the next '12-24 months' with the internet accessed through the company's voice-activated OnStar facility, which has yet to be launched in the UK.

As revealed on Fleet NewsNet last week, Britain's first glimpse of in-car internet communications will come later this year when some 2001 model year Ford Focus vehicles are equipped with voice-activated access to personalised internet information via the mobile telephone, automatic telephone dialling and satellite navigation. The first General Motors internet-equipped vehicles will be launched this year - the Cadillac DeVille and Seville in the United States and the roll-out will continue globally across General Motors brands.

Germany, where OnStar has already been launched, will be the first European country to have internet-equipped cars. OnStar allows a driver to call for a series of services, including roadside and emergency assistance, traffic information, route guidance and information services, at the touch of a button. Users pay an initial charge and then a monthly service fee and a monthly usage fee.