The Cobalt Group Announces Alliance with Universal Computer Systems
SEATTLE--April 10, 2001--The Cobalt Group , a leading provider of e-business products and services to the automotive industry, and Universal Computer Systems, Inc. (UCS), a leading supplier of in-house dealership management systems, announced today an alliance that will allow Cobalt's IntegraLink division to receive new and used vehicle inventory data contained in UCS dealers' dealer management systems and automatically post it to the dealers' Cobalt-built Web sites and leading consumer portals.
As a result of this relationship, the two companies are leveraging their industry-leading technology to provide UCS dealers with automated inventory postings on the Internet, ensuring that vehicle listings are current and saving dealers from manually entering the listings.
"Accurate inventory listings are one of the most important components of a dealer's Web site. This new alliance greatly enhances UCS' dealers abilities to market their new and used vehicle inventory online and attract new customers," said Mike Martinez, vice president of marketing for The Cobalt Group.
Each vehicle listing includes make, model, year, color, options and price. Dealers can use Cobalt's AutoShow inventory management tool to add detailed descriptions and photos to the listings. In addition to being posted on dealers' Web sites, the inventory will be posted on DealerNet.com, Cobalt's consumer automotive portal, and DriversSeat.com, the consumer automotive portal operated by the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA).
"By teaming with Cobalt, we are now offering our dealers automated and seamless vehicle inventory data transfers to their Cobalt-built and managed Web sites and major consumer portals," said Trey Hiers, senior marketing manager of Universal Computer Systems. "Additionally, our dealer clients can now take full advantage of Cobalt's NADA-endorsed e-business product offerings to enhance dealership customer satisfaction and increase car sales."
Cobalt's IntegraLink division leads the industry by collecting vehicle inventory, service history, parts inventory, and other automotive data from more than 13,000 North American automotive dealers. With the addition of UCS, Cobalt can now collect data from dealership management systems in more than 90% of the nation's dealerships.