Chrome Releases Enhancements To VIN Data Product

PORTLAND, Ore.--Jan. 5, 2005--Chrome Systems Corporation, provider of automotive data, configuration technology and commerce solutions, announced today the release of version 2.0 of its VIN Data product, a data source that can be used to provide details for an individual vehicle or a small group of vehicles for any given VIN from 1987 onward. The product is currently in use by auction houses, financers, publishers, and other auto industry concerns whose business processes depend on the transformation of a VIN to a basic but accurate vehicle description.

With the VIN Data product, business customers can transform a VIN to a short, explicit description of the vehicle that includes engine, engine size, transmission type availability, and a number of additional options including safety restraints, power features, ABS, and stereo. In all, more than 15 unique vehicle attributes are detailed by the process.

For customers who need more information, the VIN Data also matches the VIN to a Chrome Style ID, a unique and proprietary data value that provides the link to nearly 200 specific data points on the vehicle. With a dynamic combination of data and logic, the Chrome Style ID can be matched to a data set that normalizes the information across manufacturers. Additionally, matching a VIN to a Chrome Style ID makes these data points searchable and accessible, facilitating searches and research in both web sites and enterprise software systems.

"Chrome's vehicle descriptions provide details far beyond what a typical VIN description offers," said Dave Mingle, president of Chrome Systems Corp. "Once we decode and match a VIN to a specific Chrome Style ID, we can enrich the vehicle description with both generic and specific bits of information. In a very real sense, our descriptions begin where a typical VIN description ends."

A stand-alone product, Chrome's VIN Data solution can also be combined with any version of Chrome's New Vehicle Data product, a complete database of new vehicle data on more than 40 makes, domestics and exotics.

Release version 2.0 is available immediately and will be showcased at Booth 3221 during the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) 88th Annual Convention and Exposition in New Orleans, January 29-February 1, 2005.

About Chrome

With more than 13,500 clients, including half of all automotive dealers in the U.S. and Canada, Chrome provides vehicle content, software, technology and services to deliver complete enterprise solutions to all segments of the retail automotive industry. These segments include manufacturers, fleet companies, dealers, Internet sites, and financial institutions. Chrome pioneered the technology behind electronic vehicle configuration with the introduction of PC Carbook(R), and since 1986 has collected, analyzed and enhanced "raw" automotive data from all manufacturers.