Posted: Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Cutter and GM Award Two Free Cars

By Yu Shing Ting
Honolulu, Hawaii
Courtesy of:
Cutter Family Auto Centers

Jamyn Kaku and Glenn Murata have had a busy week of show and tell — sharing their brand new 2006 Buick Terraza and GMC Envoy, respectively.

Saturday, the lucky pair received their new sets of wheels, which they won during General Motors’ Hot Button promotion last spring, showcasing the company’s OnStar feature. The nationwide contest was held during a six-week period, with 1,000 cars ready to be claimed.

In the highly publicized contest, millions of people across the country visited GM dealerships where they picked a car and pressed the "Hot Button" — part of the OnStar apparatus. They were then linked to an OnStar operator who would inform them at that moment whether they had won the vehicle they were sitting in.

Surprisingly, Kaku and Murata won their cars from the same dealership on the same day about two hours apart during the Pride for Ewa celebration last May.

"When you think about the millions of people who entered this contest at the thousands of dealerships throughout the U.S., the odds that two people would win in Hawaii is amazing," says Marc Cutter, vice president of Cutter Family Auto Centers. "That they won it from the same dealership on the same day is staggering. They should go to Vegas!"

In a special presentation held at Cutter Pontiac-Buick-GMC-Mazda in Waipahu, the two men finally got to sit in their new fully-loaded, top of the line SUVs. "It’s beautiful, more beautiful than I expected," describes Kaku about his new ride. "I got to choose the color inside and out. And I’m excited about the whole thing…the OnStar feature, the sun roof…it’s just amazing.

"And it came at the right time. My Pathfinder was 11, 12 years old and it was time to get something new. In fact, just the night before I won I was with some friends and we were talking about how I needed a new car. It’s just a blessing that this came about."

Kaku’s 2006 GMC Envoy SLT arrived with endless features, including a AM/FM stereo with CD player and touch-screen navigation, Bose premium digital sound system, XM satellite radio, DVD entertainment system, OnStar, sunroof and leather interior.

Kaku, who works as a professional collector for an attorney’s office, was at the Cutter - sponsored Pride for Ewa to help run a booth for the Ewa Beach Cardinals Football Program where he is a coach. His wife, Holly, was also at the event volunteering in the Campbell High School Project Graduation booth.

"He walked into my booth and was irritating me, telling me what I should do, where the shave ice machine should be," recalls Holly. "So, I said why don’t you go in there (to the Cutter booth) and win us a car. So, he went and won us a car!

"This has been just an awesome experience. Nothing will ever surpass this. From working with Jessica Camarillo who was the Hot Button project coordinator and contact person in Detroit to fleet managers Jason Kaneshiro and Robert Borling at Cutter, they never left him out in the cold to wonder if he really won."

Glenn Murata, who was also at Pride for Ewa as a volunteer, made the trek to the Cutter booth after his co-workers told him about the contest and suggested that he try it.

"I was very surprised, I didn’t believe it in the beginning," remembers Murata, who was volunteering for the Hawaiian Electric Company where he works as a supervisor in the Environmental Compliance Power Supply Operations & Maintenance Department. "When it happened, it was going to be at the beginning of my shift and I told them I had to go, but they said ‘don’t worry we sent someone to let them know you’ll be a little late.’ Then I called my wife and she said ‘yeah right.’ I kept on insisting, so then she said ‘yeah right you won a toy car,’ and I said no, a real car. And then I was like, I got to go, I got to take pictures, bye. And finally she came out and we celebrated.

"I guess it pays to be lucky. Also, it pays to volunteer. I easily could have not been there."

Murata chose a sandstone color for his 2006 Buick Terraza CXL which arrived with countless features, such as power locks and windows, power outlet, leather interior, OnStar, DVD entertainment system, ETR AM/FM stereo with in-dash six-disc CD/MP3 player and equalizer, touch-screen navigation system, and deep-tinted glass.

"I have a 1995 Ford F150 truck and it’s got almost 100,000 miles on it, so this is really nice," says Murata. "It’ll be nice for the grandkids when they come to visit. I’m excited at just about everything about it. I’m very surprised at all the accessories. If it’s got gas in it already, I’m going to take it around the island."

There are 15 GM dealerships in Hawaii. According to Cutter officials, 365 people played the Hot Button game at Pride for Ewa on the day that Kaku and Murata won, and 422 people in the weekend after. And thousands of people played at Cutter’s two GM dealerships - Cutter Chevy on Ala Moana Blvd. and Cutter Pontiac-Buick-GMC-Mazda in Waipahu.

"We wanted to take the contest into the community through events like Pride for Ewa," says Aiyaz Dean, vice president/general manager at Cutter Pontiac-Buick-GMC-Mazda of Waipahu. "It was a three-car giveaway - one car from the Cutter Team and the other two from General Motors. And we wanted everyone to have the opportunity to win.

"The General Motors promotion showcased its OnStar GPS satellite system, a safety-related concierge service. I personally had an experience with OnStar when I was driving home from work one night at one in the morning and I fell asleep at the wheel. An OnStar operator is automatically notified when air bags deploy, so OnStar called right away and asked if I needed police or an ambulance. They call you and if there’s no response they immediately call for an emergency vehicle, and they know where you are. There was this other incident when a mother left her baby in the car while she ran into the store and someone stole her car. She called OnStar and they were able to track the car and find the baby."

OnStar, which is available in all GM products, is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The service is free for the first year.

– Cutter Pontiac-Buick-GMC-Mazda is part of Cutter Family Auto Centers, Hawaii’s largest multi-point automobile retailer representing 13 domestic and import automotive brands at 10 locations statewide. The company was established in Hawaii in 1974 when Cutter Ford opened at its current location in Aiea.

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