ARKONA Selected by Automotive Equity Partners to Deliver Dealer Management Solutions; New Franchise Dealerships to Install ARKONA

    SALT LAKE CITY--Sept. 10, 2002--ARKONA Inc. (OTC: ARKN) today announced that Automotive Equity Partners (AEP) has selected ARKONA to provide services and solutions for its growing list of dealerships.
    AEP is made up of investors focused on partnering with dealer candidates who lack the capital to acquire a new car franchise on their own. They plan to acquire up to 40 new franchise dealerships over the next several years.
    As part of the agreement, ARKONA will supply AEP with a dealership management system featuring service, parts, accounting, F&I, customer relationship management (CRM) and a suite of training and consulting services. The complete solution is delivered to dealers through a proven and cost-effective ASP model.
    "After completing our research of all the major dealer management system vendors, the reasons to select ARKONA as our DMS partner were obvious," said Dale Hermiller, COO, AEP. "ARKONA's overall solution, pricing and growing presence in the automotive marketplace provide our dealerships with a complete package at a reasonable price.
    "All the tools that a dealership needs to conduct business and take care of its customers are included and ARKONA does not require long-term contracts for our dealerships. More importantly, I can personally access any of our dealerships just by logging on to the Internet. The days of faxing in the daily operating summary are long gone."
    "This is a great opportunity to work closely with a business partner like AEP," noted Rich Holland, president, ARKONA. "Our goal as a partner is to integrate our solutions to meet OEM requirements and then organize our corporate resources and products to match the business plans of companies like Automotive Equity Partners.
    "The advanced tools we provide will ensure that AEP dealerships get off to a good start and that they quickly realize organizational efficiencies and profitability."
    ARKONA has successfully installed the initial AEP dealership and is scheduled to install three more dealerships during 2002. The number of installations will ramp quickly during 2003 to meet AEP's stated goals.

    About Automotive Equity Partners

    Automotive Equity Partners was recently formed by a group of private investors with many years of automotive experience. AEP's business model allows a qualified dealer candidate to acquire a minority stake in a new car franchise and repurchase AEP's shares over time. Most dealer candidates have at least 10 percent of the required capital.

    About ARKONA Inc.

    Founded in 1996, ARKONA is a public company and a leader in automotive management solutions. ARKONA's Dealer Management System leads the market in technologically superior solutions for automotive dealers that fully integrate back office systems with a retail Web presence. ARKONA is one of the first automotive industry Application Service Providers (ASP).
    For more information, visit the ARKONA Web site at www.arkona.com.

    This release may contain forward-looking statements as well as historical information. Forward-looking statements, which are included in accordance with the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, may involve known or unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the company's actual results and performance in future periods to be materially different from any future results or performance suggested by the forward-looking statements in this release.
    Such forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release. The company expressly disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements found herein to reflect any changes in company expectations or results or any change in events.