Specialized research in data science done by Kaggle has found predictive models developed through competitions are more accurate at predicting the likelihood of an event than software a company developed on its own.
As it hasdone so many times in the past, GM is trying to shift the spotlight to its upcoming models, like the new Cadillac ATS, meant to be an entry level BMW and Mercedes fighter.
History has shown clearly that by successfully introducing new usage models with new form factors and doing it significantly better than it was done before there has been large market growth.
For small companies, the data store can organize the way things are done, but for larger companies it has the ability to dramatically increase the access to data when compared to previous models.