Cars.com Set to Boost New Car Sales with Launch of NewLeadsPlus

CHICAGO, Jan. 31, 2006 -- Cars.com today announced the launch of NewLeadsPlus, a lead generation product developed for franchise dealers to reach active, new car shoppers in their area. Using proprietary search engine technology, NewLeadsPlus generates leads from the top search engines and delivers them directly to dealerships looking to connect with in-market, new car shoppers.

"With the launch of NewLeadsPlus, cars.com offers our customers more ways to reach new car shoppers than ever before," said Mitch Golub, president of cars.com. "In addition to reaching shoppers on cars.com and our partner sites, we are leveraging our search engine management expertise to bring dealers high-quality, new car prospects directly from the search engines."

A powerful customer acquisition tool, NewLeadsPlus helps dealerships boost new car sales with leads from ready-to-buy shoppers who are actively searching online for specific makes and models. Cars.com delivers these leads to the dealership within minutes of submission, allowing dealers to quickly follow-up and engage the customer.

"As the Internet plays an increasingly important role in automotive sales generation, we are excited to offer new products and services that allow dealers to drive traffic across all aspects of their business," said Golub. "Whether a dealership is looking to the Internet to boost used or new car sales, cars.com is now a single source for all of their online advertising needs."

The cars.com launch of NewLeadsPlus follows the company's recent acquisition of NewCars.com, which was announced in July of 2005. The acquisition provided cars.com with a stronghold in Automotive Search Management and the necessary infrastructure and lead distribution platform to bring NewLeadsPlus to market.

After a successful pilot in select markets, NewLeadsPlus is now available to dealers nationwide. Cars.com will feature NewLeadsPlus at the upcoming NADA Convention and Exposition. Dealers can visit cars.com at booth #2654 for a complete demonstration.

About cars.com

Partnered with more than 200 leading metro newspapers, television stations and their Web sites, cars.com is the most comprehensive destination for those looking to buy or sell a new or used car. The site lists more than 1.4 million vehicles from 10,000 dealer customers, classified advertisers and private- parties to offer consumers the best selection of new and used cars online, as well as the content, tools and advice to support their shopping experience. Recently selected by Forbes.com as a Best of the Web site for car shopping, cars.com combines powerful inventory search tools and new-car configuration with pricing information, photo galleries, buying guides, side-by-side comparison tools, original editorial content and reviews to help millions of car shoppers connect with sellers each month.

Launched in June 1998, cars.com is a division of Classified Ventures, LLC, ( http://classifiedventures.com/ ), which is owned by six leading media companies including, Belo , Gannett Co., Inc. , Knight Ridder , The McClatchy Company , Tribune Company and The Washington Post Company. .