Auto Town Joins the Siebel Alliance Program; Auto Town Partners with Siebel Systems to Focus on the Automotive Retail Market

    HAYWARD, Calif.--June 17, 2002--Auto Town(R), a leading provider of automotive retail finance and insurance (F&I) management solutions, today announced it has joined the Siebel Alliance Program as a Portfolio Partner.
    Siebel Systems Inc., is the world's leading provider of eBusiness applications software. Auto Town(R) will work with Siebel Systems to deliver eBusiness software and service solutions for automotive retailers.
    Siebel eAutomotive, the version of Siebel eBusiness Applications that is specifically tailored for the automotive industry, provides a closed-loop marketing, sales, and service solution, ensuring that detailed customer knowledge is leveraged during every business process and customer interaction.
    Automotive retailers can utilize Siebel eAutomotive to facilitate collaborative marketing between automotive companies and their retailer networks, manage leads and sales activities, improve service capabilities, increase customer satisfaction, and reduce costs. Auto Town's complete finance and insurance solution, DealerTrak(TM), manages the final step in the retail selling process.
    DealerTrak(TM) increases the efficiency and effectiveness of the F&I process and automatically posts the completed transaction to existing dealer management systems (DMS) through standardized integration points. Auto Town's DealerTrak(TM) solution enables retailers to improve accuracy, increase throughput, and increase profitability.
    "Our customers kept asking for a complete enterprise solution," said Al Babbington, the CEO of Auto Town(R). "We recognized that a partnership was the best strategy to achieve this requirement. After completing our evaluation process, Siebel Systems was the clear choice due to its combination of CRM market dominance and extensive automotive expertise. Our partnership with Siebel Systems will allow Auto Town(R) to focus on our area of expertise while meeting the demands of the market."
    Siebel eAutomotive and Auto Town(R) have an impressive array of car companies and automotive retailers as current customers.
    This list includes the top global car companies: General Motors, Ford Motor Co., DaimlerChrysler, BMW, Toyota, and Renault; and three of the top five retail consolidators in North America: United Auto Group Inc., Sonic Automotive Inc., and Asbury Automotive Group; and many of the major independent retailers in North America.
    "The combination of Siebel eAutomotive and DealerTrak(TM) is a perfect match," said Kurt Olnhausen, Automotive General Manager for Siebel Systems. "Siebel eAutomotive handles the customer-facing eBusiness needs at the car company and the auto retailer, and DealerTrak(TM) provides the finance and insurance capabilities that close the deal. Now a retailer and car company can use one integrated solution to manage a customer from the time they request a brochure, visit the Web site, or walk into the showroom to the completion of the sale.
    In addition, Auto Town's DMS integration allows the utilization of car company and retailer data to complete the 360-degree view of customers that is required to properly manage customers throughout their life cycle. This is a `win-win' for the car companies and retailers as they can improve their marketing effectiveness and reduce their marketing costs at the same time."

    About Auto Town(R)

    Auto Town(R), located near Silicon Valley in the San Francisco Bay Area, was founded in 1996 to provide software solutions for the retail automotive industry. With DealerTrak(TM), Auto Town(R) created the first integrated customer relationship management (CRM), deal process, finance and insurance product specifically designed for auto dealerships. The integrated solution's advantages over generic products include reduced transaction times, increased sales, higher customer satisfaction, precision marketing of services, and significantly improved net profits.
    DealerTrak(TM) integrates all of a dealership's existing sales systems and legacy databases. Sales personnel use DealerTrak(TM) to access electronic worksheets, credit applications, and trade appraisals as well as to generate daily work plans, follow-up letters, and e-mails. Managers use DealerTrak(TM) to monitor sales activity, create custom reports, and selectively market to their customer and prospect databases. DealerTrak(TM) coordinates in an "open" framework with more than 200 other strategic integrations (NADA, Kelley Blue Book, the Blackbook, CarPoint.com, and so on) to speed dealership operations.
    Auto Town(R) delivers its applications from an ASP facility co-hosted by IBM in San Jose, Calif. The products are deployed in 21 states, and current customers include several of the nations leading retailers including Sonic Automotive (SAH) NYSE, United AutoGroup (UAG) NYSE and Asbury Automotive (ABG) NYSE. Auto Town(R) product information can be accessed online at www.autotown.com or by phone at 877/877-8696.