Devon Cohen Joins FordDirect.com as Chief Executive; Nine States Now On-line, Including Texas and California

    DEARBORN, Mich., April 2 FordDirect.com, the dealer-led
online company offering consumers the ability to purchase Ford cars and trucks
from Ford Division dealers, today announced the completion of its management
team and the official on-line debut of its operations in nine states.
    Devon M. Cohen joins FordDirect as chief executive officer, completing the
management team that has been headed by former Ford dealers David Kain, chief
operating officer, and Leo Hillock, vice president of dealer operations.
Before joining FordDirect, Cohen was group vice president, automotive, at
TradeOut, the business-to-business sister company of eBay, where he was
responsible for the creation of the automotive business model that sold more
than $3.6 million in its first three months of operation.
    FordDirect also announced today that it is now fully operational in nine
states:  California, Delaware, Georgia, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey,
Tennessee, Texas and Washington.  Taken together, these states represent about
35 percent of Ford Division's annual car and truck sales in the United States.
    Cohen brings to FordDirect a diverse blend of skills and accomplishments
in financial management in automotive finance, starting and running businesses
from the ground up and on-line sales.
    "Devon is the ideal executive to lead FordDirect," said Bill Keith,
chairman of the FordDirect board of directors and dealer principal of Freehold
Ford in Freehold, N.J.
    "He knows the automotive business.  He knows the Internet business.  He
has been an entrepreneur.  This combination of talent and experience is very
rare.  We're very fortunate to be able to attract someone of Devon's
accomplishments to lead our team," Keith said.
    "FordDirect is not just another Internet venture," Cohen said.
"FordDirect represents the next wave in the evolution of how dealers and
manufacturers can work together.  What Ford dealers have created is truly
historic," Cohen said.  "It's like a new highway that has never been traveled
before."
    On a personal note, Cohen noted, "I have entrepreneurship in my blood.
Having worked in several successful situations in the past, you begin to
quickly recognize the key elements of success.  And this is it!  FordDirect is
the kind of opportunity that comes only rarely in a person's career.  I'm very
fortunate to have the confidence that the board has placed in me."
    Before joining TradeOut, Cohen held a number of positions with financial
services companies.  He was vice president and general manager at
DaimlerChrysler Financial Services where he was responsible for a $15 billion
portfolio and zone offices with more than 500 people who were responsible for
dealer financial services for one third of the United States.
    Prior to DaimlerChrysler Financial, Cohen was vice president - services
division at Mercedes Benz Credit Corp. and was responsible for information
systems, developing shared services and a new division that acquired, built
and managed service fee businesses related to the automotive value chain.
And prior to those responsibilities, Cohen was cofounder and chief executive
officer of Remarketing Services of America which he sold to Mercedes Benz
Credit in 1996.  Cohen earned his CPA with KPMG Peat Marwick and graduated
from the State University of New York in Binghamton with a B.S. degree in
accounting in 1979.
    FordDirect.com was formed in August by the national Ford Dealer Council
and Ford Motor Company .  Test marketing of FordDirect's services
began in New Jersey in December 2000 before being extended to the full state
in January and to Delaware in March.  The additional seven states were soon
added with more states to follow to complete the national roll-out.
    Dealer participation is voluntary.  In New Jersey, the first state where
operations began, more than 95 percent of the eligible Ford dealers are
participating.  Dealer commitment in California and Texas exceeds 90 percent.
    "We are very proud of the momentum that has built up in a short period of
time," said David Kain, chief operating officer.  "Nothing like FordDirect has
ever been created before.  Since August, the response from Ford dealers, and
now our customers, has been very gratifying."
    The following join Cohen as FordDirect's core management team (profile of
Cohen follows):
    DAVID KAIN, chief operating officer.  Kain has been involved with the
creation of FordDirect since its inception with the national Ford Dealer
Council and personally joined Jerry Reynolds, dealer council president, to
launch the venture in August 2000.  Kain grew up in the car business in
central Kentucky.  He worked his way up through the family business to become
general manager and dealer principal.  He and his wife and their three
children now live in the Detroit area while he concentrates on the national
roll-out of FordDirect.
    LEO HILLOCK, vice president of dealer operations.  Hillock is a 27-year
veteran of the automobile business.  He began his automotive career in 1974 at
Powell Motor Company, a Ford dealership in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.  He held
numerous managerial positions for various automobile dealerships in south
Florida before rejoining Powell Motor Company in 1989 as vice president and
general manager.  In 1997, Powell Motor Company was sold to AutoNation, and
Hillock was named president and general manager of the new company.  He joined
FordDirect November 2000.  Hillock is married and has two sons.
    JARED ROWE, vice president of technology.  Rowe joins FordDirect from
YapStone, Inc. where he held the position of vice president of business
development.  Rowe has also worked for Autobytel.com and Toyota Motor Sales,
USA.  While with Autobytel.com, he held various positions including market
representation and product and business development.  Rowe holds a dual B.A.
degree from Northwood University in business administration and automotive
marketing.
    STEVE ST. ANDRE, vice president of business development and marketing.
St. Andre joins FordDirect from Autoweb.com where he was director of corporate
strategy and negotiated arrangements with original equipment manufacturers and
portal automotive verticals such as America Online, CarsDirect, Saturn, Isuzu
and Infiniti.  St. Andre also spent several years in various consulting roles
with automotive manufacturers including American Honda Motor, Nissan Motor
Corporation and Cadillac Motor Car Division.  St. Andre grew up in a suburb of
Boston and holds a B.A. degree from the Eli Broad College of Business at
Michigan State University.
    TED VINCENT, chief financial officer.  Vincent joins FordDirect from
Lincoln Mercury where he held various positions in pricing and contest and
incentive financial planning.  Vincent also spent several years with I.B.M.
and Nissan Motor Corporation where he held the position of finance manager of
Infiniti Division.  Vincent holds a B.A. from the University of California and
an M.B.A. from Michigan State University.
    JACK VALENTIC, executive advisor.  Valentic brings to FordDirect a unique
blend of manufacturer and dealer experience.  Most recently, he was Dealer
Relations Executive at Ford Division.  His 30-year career at Ford was spent in
various positions of increasing responsibility around the country, beginning
on the East Coast in Newark, N.J., and ranging from Philadelphia to Seattle,
and Kansas City to Dearborn.  Valentic holds B.A. and M.S. degrees from the
University of Buffalo and an M.B.A. from Lehigh University.

    Profile:   DEVON M. COHEN
               Chief Executive Officer

    Devon Cohen brings to FordDirect the discipline of a financial manager and
the innovation of an entrepreneur who has created and built businesses from
the ground up.
    In 1990 as a senior vice president at Marine Midland Automotive Finance
(MMAFC), Cohen was given the responsibility of selling the bank's automotive
finance business.  That transaction resulted in the creation of Primus, which
is now Ford Credit's financial arm for Jaguar, Mazda and other brands.  Cohen
was then asked to manage Marine Midland's $6 billion portfolio and was able to
reduce the bank's losses on its residuals by $1,100 per car through improved
marketing efforts on cars coming off lease.
    In 1991, Cohen and two partners raised private capital to start
Remarketing Services of America (RSA).  The business first operated out of a
borrowed office and had to sell proprietary software to meet payroll expenses,
but in time, RSA grew into an enterprise with $25 million in revenue and 400
employees that was acquired in 1996 by Mercedes Benz Credit.
    He was then asked to join the executive leadership team at Mercedes Benz
Credit as a vice president of their newly-formed services division.  This
group was responsible for information systems, finance and accounting and
building new service fee-based businesses related to the automotive value
chain.  After the merger that created DaimlerChrysler, he then moved to
DaimlerChrysler Financial Services (DCFS) where he oversaw a $15 billion
portfolio and managed more than 500 people who were responsible for dealer
financial services for a third of the country, and was the primary liaison
between DCFS and Chrysler and Jeep brands.
    At DCFS, Cohen was responsible for developing the plan to consolidate
customer service and collection operations of Mercedes Benz Credit and
Chrysler Finance to simultaneously improve internal efficiencies as well as
customer satisfaction.
    In 2000, Cohen joined TradeOut as automotive group vice president to
create the automotive business model for the business-to-business sister
company of eBay that sells off-lease vehicles directly to dealers.
    He joined FordDirect as chief executive officer in March 2001.  Cohen is
married with a son and two daughters and lives in Franklin, Mich.