As a I reported previously, Greenthinkers was invited to the 2007 North American International Auto Show by GM as part of a blogger army of reporters. And as I also reported, GM paid our way.

Greenthinkers was invited as one of the few “green bloggers.” Others included Steve from Groovy Green, Chad from HybridCarBlog.com and Hank from EcoGeek.

This is not the first time they have done this. But, why did GM do this? Well, I guess the obvious answer is so we would come and write about them and their products. Makes sense. They did pay, as I mentioned, but it was made very clear to us (by the GM communications company) that we could write anything we wanted (of course!) about them and we could of course meet with and talk to the other auto makers. Talking to one of the communication company folks, they said there was initially some talk of requiring all bloggers to include a disclaimer on their posts regarding all this, but this idea was nixed. They also realize that blog posts travel fast so having bloggers their just helped get their word out, fast.

So did all this help GM? I think so, for the most part. The Chevy Volt Concept (the main reveal they wanted us green bloggers to see and that I will be posting in detail about shortly) was a positive step by GM as far as moving towards a more green automobile but it did leave myself and others with lots of questions and doubts, especially in light of the recent Who Killed the Electric Car? film. For example, this new concept is not slated for production until 2010 or 2012. That’s a long way away. Anyway, more about that later. Good or bad, I think GM knows that they need to have a dialogue with supporters and non-supporters. Maybe they are seeing that people want to digest all they hear and read from traditional media, non-traditional media and corporate marketing and make up their own opinions. At least that’s what I hope the intention is.

Did we sell out by going on GM’s dime? I am sure some would think so. But, realistically there is most likely no other way that most bloggers could afford to attend an event like this. As long as we can maintain an unbiased opinion (despite any wining and dining) of what we saw, all is good.

Overall, I think an event like this actually does a lot to help build the strength of the blogging community by allowing us to meet face-to-face.