The Cobalt Group and Austin American-Statesman Launch New Online Car Shopping Site
SEATTLE & AUSTIN, Texas--March 4, 2002--StatesmanCars provides car shoppers with convenient access to car
buying resources and new and used vehicle listings from dealers
throughout Central Texas
Today, The Cobalt Group and the Austin American-Statesman announced the launch of an all-new online car-shopping site - StatesmanCars. Cobalt, the leading provider of e-business software and services to the automotive retail market, and the Austin American-Statesman, a Cox newspaper, teamed up to bring car buyers in Central Texas convenient access to new and used vehicle listings from local dealers and private parties.
Now, these buyers can build and find their dream cars, conduct side-by-side comparisons of various makes and models, locate a specific dealership and search its entire inventory, as well as request a price quote.
The Statesman selected Cobalt as its technology partner to design, build, host and maintain the auto classifieds section of Statesman.com. In addition, Cobalt is responsible for polling and managing the vehicle data of all participating dealers and private sellers, ensuring listings are refreshed daily for all site participants.
"That The Statesman and dealers in Central Texas are embracing e-business technology and providing car buyers with the online resources they need to purchase their next vehicle from a local dealer is a terrific boon for Central Texas consumers," said Terry Smail, executive vice president of sales and client services for The Cobalt Group. "Because of the number of Cobalt dealers in Austin and the surrounding market, car shoppers can search over 9,000 new and used vehicles on the new site."
"StatesmanCars provides a convenient, one-stop destination for car buyers by integrating private party classified ads with inventory from local dealers into one searchable database," said Larry Sanders, general manager for the Statesman.com. "Additionally, the site also provides online car shopping resources to assist buyers with their vehicle purchase."
Car shopping resources available on StatesmanCars include vehicle pricing guides to help determine used car and truck values, lemon check reports that provide vehicle history information, and an online payment calculator to determine monthly loan payments.
In addition to StatesmanCars, Cobalt also provides automotive shopping portals 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 the National Automobile Dealers Association (DriversSeat.com), the Houston Chronicle (ChronicleCars.com), and other media companies.
ABOUT THE COBALT GROUP
The Cobalt Group works exclusively in the automotive retail market to help manufacturers and dealers develop integrated e-business programs by leveraging its industry leading technology, broad range of services and deep domain knowledge. As the automotive e-business leader, Cobalt is uniquely positioned to help its customers maximize their overall operating efficiencies and profits.
Cobalt offers a broad range of products and services developed specifically for the automotive marketplace including enterprise software for manufacturers and dealers; customer relationship management (CRM) software applications; online automotive commerce applications; the industry's largest OEM parts locating and marketing service; dealership e-business best practices training, consulting, and process compliance analysis; and wholesale used vehicle remarketing services.
Cobalt operates a dealer network larger than any other technology provider in the automotive retail industry including 12,000 franchised dealers and 70 of the 100 largest dealer groups. Cobalt is the only software technology provider ever endorsed by 14 manufacturers and the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA).
With headquarters in Seattle, Wash., Cobalt has offices in five U.S. cities, and a field sales and services force in 30 states, including all major U.S. metropolitan sales areas (MSAs).
For more information, please visit www.cobaltgroup.com or call (800) 909-8244.
ABOUT THE AUSTIN AMERICAN STATESMAN
Since 1871, the Austin American-Statesman has been dedicated to creating value through building an integrated news, information and advertising company with a great newspaper at its core. Today, the Austin American-Statesman and Statesman.com are Central Texas' main source for news, sports, entertainment coverage, business information, topical features, classifieds, and much more. More than 479,000 readers pick up the paper each day, while 599,000 peruse the Sunday edition.
With more than 9 million page views per month, Statesman.com amasses an online audience beyond any other news medium in Central Texas.
The Austin American-Statesman is one of 18 daily newspapers owned by Cox Enterprises. Major operating subsidiaries of Cox Enterprises include: Cox Communications, a cable television, telephone, high-speed Internet access and broadband services company; Cox Newspapers, with 18 daily and 30 weekly newspapers; Cox Radio, a publicly traded company that owns, operates or provides sales and marketing services for 83 stations; Cox Interactive Media, a network of 22 local Internet sites; Cox Television with 15 TV stations; and Manheim Auctions, now the highest volume operator of wholesale auto auctions in the world.
For more information, please visit www.statesman.com or call 512-912-2510.