First-Ever Automotive Internet Roundtable

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif.: 17 October 2005 - J.D. Power and Associates, one of the nation's foremost marketing information services firms, will host an Automotive Internet Roundtable in partnership with Jumpstart Automotive Media, Inc. November 1-3 at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.

Held concurrently with the SEMA automotive specialty products trade show, the Automotive Internet Roundtable will address all aspects of online advertising for automotive marketers. This one-of-a-kind event for the auto industry is expected to attract senior representation from each of the leading automotive research sites, automotive manufacturers and their advertising agencies, most of the nation's top dealership groups, as well as the technology, marketing and services firms that support the automotive Internet industry.

"While most Internet media conferences are general in nature and don't focus on the specifics of how the new technologies benefit the auto industry, this event will address the specific automotive opportunities with rich media, behavioral targeting, search, local search and broadband marketing," said Charlie Vogelheim, vice president of automotive development at J.D. Power and Associates.

The Nov. 2 programming is focused largely on the needs of auto dealers while the Nov. 3 sessions are focused on the needs of auto manufacturers. Scheduled speakers include Curt Hecht, chief digital officer of GM Planworks; Chip Perry, chief executive officer of AutoTrader; Mitch Golub, president of Cars.com; and Nick Pahade, executive vice president of Beyond Interactive (VW).

"J.D. Power and Associates is the gold standard for every type of research related to the automotive industry and is uniquely positioned to move the discussion of how, where, when, and why the auto industry uses the Internet to reach potential buyers," said Mitch Lowe, chief executive officer of Jumpstart. "Participants of this conference will be better informed and armed with new tactics to increase their online share of vehicle buyers."

In addition to co-host Jumpstart, sponsors of the roundtable are Yahoo! Autos, Autobytel, Dealix (a division of Cobalt Group), Kelley Blue Book, CNET and Google.