Experian Unveils Online Market Intelligence Tool for Dealers

NEW ORLEANS, Jan. 27 -- Experian Automotive, a leader in online customer relationship tools, today launched Auto.DemographicsNow.com , a powerful Web-based market intelligence tool providing dealers the most accurate and comprehensive vehicle and demographic information available. Demonstrations are available at the Experian Automotive booth 2329 during the National Automobile Dealers Association Convention (NADA). For the first time in the industry, dealers will be able to analyze vehicle penetration in any given area online. By submitting queries through online forms, dealers can quickly and accurately gather demographic and automotive-related data about a specific geographic area. "With tough market conditions and fierce competition, dealers need to use market intelligence more than ever before. Experian Automotive offers this comprehensive tool to provide dealers an easy-to-use, cost effective way to gain a competitive edge in their market areas," said Ken Kauppila, executive vice president, Experian Automotive. "The greatest benefit of Auto.DemographicsNow.com is instant access to targeted data, which results in real cost savings by eliminating the 'blanket' target efforts." Reports generated through Auto.DemographicsNow.com highlight several combinations of consumer, vehicle and census data. Among other capabilities, the product enables dealers to:

* Identify current vehicles in operation to determine market share by geographic location. * Gather and segment vehicle target markets by years 1996-2000 make/model/model year data. * Understand penetration of competitive vehicle conditions within specific geographic areas. * Combine vehicle and consumer data to create market summary profiles instantly. * Obtain five-year projections on consumer populations for a given geographic area for future planning. * The online tool also offers a mapping capability to visually display key geographic regions of vehicle penetration.

"By combining vehicle data, demographic information and census data, dealers are able to learn a great deal more about their market area. For example, a Ford dealer could type in a nearby zip code to see Ford Explorer penetration to determine if additional marketing and advertising is needed," explains Kauppila. "The Ford dealer could also find out how many Chevrolet and Dodge competitive products are in the same area to see which vehicle is the Ford Explorer's greatest competition." Experian partnered with SRC, LLC, a developer of custom Internet/intranet micro marketing and mapping systems and software, to create the Auto.DemographicsNow.com interface. Vehicle data summaries are broken down into 18 vehicle classifications. Reports are available in summary, comparison, ranking or radius-based detail. Auto.DemographicsNow.com draws data from Experian Automotive's National Vehicle Database, the world's 10th largest database in the world, currently at 16 billion rows of data and 384 million vehicles, and the INSOURCE(SM) customer database, comprised of more than 215 million consumers in 110 million households nationwide, which provides lifestyle information to enhance marketing information and improve campaign effectiveness.

About Experian Experian enables organizations to find the best prospects and make fast, informed decisions to improve and personalize relationships with their customers. It does this by combining sophisticated and intelligent decision- making software and systems with some of the world's most comprehensive databases of information on consumers, businesses, motor vehicles and property. Through multi-channel delivery of its Web-based products and services, Experian enables its clients to conduct secure and profitable e- business and develop state-of-the-art Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems for communicating and building one-to-one relationships with customers. Experian is a subsidiary of GUS plc and has headquarters in Nottingham, UK, and Orange, Calif. Its 12,000 people support clients in more than 50 countries. Annual sales are approximately $1.5 billion. Experian Automotive offers a complete range of automotive information solutions to manufacturers, dealers, finance and insurance companies and marketing agencies. Experian's state-of-the-art technology, consulting services, direct marketing and database tools assist companies serving the automotive industry to better understand existing customers, effectively target new prospects, increase customer satisfaction and loyalty, and ultimately reach its business objectives. The company's National Vehicle Database is an expansive database housing information on more than 384 million motor vehicles nationwide, serving as the basic building block from which all of Experian's automotive solutions originate. For more information on Experian Automotive and its auto suite of products, visit the company's Web site at http://www.automotive.experian.com