MBUSA Deploys Completely New Dealer Web Site Solution; Integrated Internet Strategy Connects Corporate, Consumer and Dealer Sites

    MONTVALE, N.J., June 29 Mercedes-Benz USA (MBUSA) has
launched a powerful Internet tool to provide an industry-leading combination
of lead generation and management, local branding online and interactive
communication with customers.  Online this month, the new dealer sites present
a brand-consistent, but individually customized interface that provides
consumers with access to researching and shopping tools that they've come to
expect on MBUSA's corporate site.
    Efforts have been made to strengthen the relationship between the national
brand, dealer and owner sites to provide the consumer with an integrated
experience with the Mercedes-Benz brand online. The objective is to have a
fully-equipped dealer web site that enables customers to do everything from
configure a vehicle to obtain information about products and services to
communicate with dealers electronically.
    "This site is designed to provide that kind of seamless interface with the
brand and all the way through from consideration to purchase and through the
ownership cycle, which is a solution that benefits both dealer and customer on
a variety of levels," said Astrid Fontaine, general manager, e-Business for
MBUSA.
    The majority of today's Net-savvy new vehicle buyers know what they want
before entering the dealership.  According to MBUSA's research, over
65 percent of its customer's shop on the Internet during their purchasing
process, often including visits to MBUSA's corporate web site,
http://www.mbusa.com.
    Because of this, MBUSA decided to add more value to individual dealer
sites.  The new dealer sites now present opportunities for customization and
interaction.  For example, customers can configure a car, add accessories to
it, view in the 360 degree feature, and utilize payment calculators.  The new
sites also offer a competitive comparison feature in which the customer can
select a Mercedes model and compare specs, features and relative costs to a
competitive vehicle, based on data maintained by an objective third-party
vendor.
    Customers can also search through dealers' pre-owned inventory listings.
Perhaps most important for dealers and customers alike, when the customer
contacts a dealer, be it a request for a brochure, an appointment with the
service department or for additional information about a vehicle, the dealer
can respond more efficiently.
    Although the new dealer web sites allow for the same functionality as the
corporate web site, the advantage is that the dealer can still control local
messages.  By using a unique feature called the Content Management Tool,
dealers can activate/deactivate optional pages; maintain their pre-owned
inventory listings; customize text; add their own images, and control where
inquires generated off the web sites are directed.
    MBUSA provides dealers with site management training and is about to offer
two separate Internet sales training courses for all its dealers.
Mercedes-Benz USA, headquartered in Montvale, N.J., is responsible for the
sales, service and marketing of Mercedes-Benz products in the United States.
The company sold 205,614 vehicles in the U.S. during 2000, a nine percent
increase over the previous year, setting the highest sales volume ever in its
history and expects to beat that record in 2001.