The Cobalt Group and Houston Chronicle Launch ChronicleCars.com
SEATTLE--Feb. 20, 2001--The Cobalt Group , a leading provider of e-business products and services to the automotive industry, and the Houston Chronicle, a Hearst newspaper, announced today the launch of ChronicleCars.com, the Houston Chronicle's redesigned automotive Web site.
The new site, designed, maintained and hosted by Cobalt in partnership with the Houston Chronicle, now includes new car inventory as well as enhanced functionality and automobile research capabilities.
"By establishing a feature-rich automotive section for the Houston Chronicle, The Cobalt Group has set new standards for helping news and information sites expand their automotive research and buying resources for their visitors," said John Holt, president and CEO of The Cobalt Group. "Cobalt and the Houston Chronicle believe ChronicleCars.com will provide increased leads and sales for Houston area auto dealers and reinforce the newspaper's dedication to local businesses."
ChronicleCars.com provides consumers with greater direct online access to over 15,000 new and used vehicles from car dealers in the greater Houston area. Visitors to the site can research vehicles, conduct side-by-side vehicle comparisons, locate a specific dealership and search its inventory, as well as request parts, service, financial/insurance information and price quotes. The site also includes feature articles by Houston Chronicle automotive writer Tim Spell and other classifieds listings. The next version of the site, scheduled to launch in early March, will integrate Houston Chronicle classified listings from private party sellers with local dealer listings, allowing visitors to easily search all automotive listings in a single location.
"Cobalt's technology and experience creating thousands of custom automotive e-business solutions enabled them to create a terrific online automotive section for us and seamlessly integrate it within our main site, HoustonChronicle.com," said Bill Offill, classified director for the Houston Chronicle. "The site now provides a one-stop destination for all of our visitors' news and information needs, making us Houston's leading online information source."
In addition to ChronicleCars.com, Cobalt also provides automotive portal solutions for auto manufacturers and large dealer groups such as Toyota (www.buyatoyota.com) and AutoNation (www.autonation.com), and develops private label auto channels for entities such as AAA Clubs of New Jersey, The Seattle Times, KING TV and other media companies.
About The Cobalt Group
The Cobalt Group(TM) , headquartered in Seattle, is a leading provider of e-business products and services that help automotive dealers and manufacturers effectively manage their businesses online. Cobalt's suite of e-business solutions includes Web services, Web site hosting, e-commerce applications, Internet-based customer relationship management applications, data management, and best practices training and consulting.
Nearly half of the nation's auto dealers use Cobalt's technology, including 8,500 Web services clients, and approximately 9,300 PartsVoice(R) (www.partsvoice.com) clients. Cobalt's e-business products and services are endorsed by 15 automotive manufacturers and more than 50 of the 100 largest dealer groups in the United States. Cobalt is the only e-business provider endorsed by the National Automobile Dealers Association.
Cobalt operates MotorPlace.com(TM) (www.MotorPlace.com), an online business management and industry information resource for auto dealers. At MotorPlace.com, dealers utilize Cobalt tools to manage their Web sites, buy wholesale used vehicles through MotorPlace Auto Exchange, locate and market OEM parts, purchase leads through Pick-or-Pass, and access industry information, news, events, and stock quotes. Cobalt also operates DealerNet(R) (www.dealernet.com), one of the most widely visited consumer automotive information portals on the Web. IntegraLink Corporation, a Cobalt company, is the auto industry's premier provider of automotive data collection and reporting services.
Cobalt has offices in Seattle, Wash.; Portland, Ore.; Detroit, Mich.; Columbus, Ohio; and Austin, Texas. For more information, please visit www.cobaltgroup.com or call 800/909-8244.
About The Houston Chronicle
The Houston Chronicle, one of the largest newspapers in the Southwest United States, was founded in 1901 and acquired by the Hearst Corporation in 1987. In addition to delivering in-depth coverage of local issues, the Chronicle is equally committed to covering state, national and international news; in Mexico, to provide a link to its southern neighbors in Mexico and South America; and in Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, Beaumont and the Rio Grande Valley, for comprehensive coverage of events across the state. The newspaper's on-line service, HoustonChronicle.com, is widely regarded as one of the top newspaper Web sites.
The Houston Chronicle is the nation's seventh largest daily paper with daily circulation totals of 546,799 and the ninth largest paper on Sundays with circulation totals of 743,009 according to the September 30, 2000 FAS-FAX report from the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
HoustonChronicle.com, the Chronicle's comprehensive Web site, launched in 1995, receives over 12 million page views per month.