Keynote Systems Study Lauds Edmunds.com's Online Customer Experience

But First Snide's Remarks: If you agree that "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” then we would like to thank the folks at Keynote Systems for recognizing what our audience has known for over ten years, that The Auto Channel was the originator and pioneer online publisher that has, and continues to provide intelligent online auto researchers with the original versions of database powered auto research tools and indexed access to the unbiased automotive editorial and data they seek from an automotive web site.

You can go back way back to see that The Auto Channel was really the first web site to offer automotive news and research tools for free on the web…the first to publish both MSRP and Dealer Invoice; the first online compare-a graph; the first auto show coverage; the first automotive streaming video; the first automotive site to recognize the web as the future platform to deliver free advertising supported automotive content.

So flatter away Edmunds…oh yeah by the way The Auto Channel is self funded and profitable and has not cost its investors hundreds of million of dollars to build and maintain…lets see you copy that…

SANTA MONICA, Calif.--April 21, 2006--Edmunds.com (http://www.edmunds.com), the premier online resource for automotive information, today announced that its Web site has been ranked number one in online customer experience in a recent study performed by Keynote Systems, The Internet Performance Authority(R). The interactive Web site study, performed by Keynote in January, examined the online behavior and satisfaction of consumers as they performed searches and accomplished tasks on leading 3rd Party Auto Web sites.

The Keynote study concluded that Edmunds.com offered an exceptional online customer experience, including excellent site performance and quick page load times. The Keynote study also indicated that the majority of prospective customers see Edmunds.com as the site that "has the tools that make vehicle research easier." In addition, Edmunds.com earned high praise for its vehicle comparison function.

"Since introducing the first automotive destination on the Internet more than ten years ago, we've put a lot of effort into creating a functional, intuitive Web site," said Matthew Kumin, General Manager of Edmunds.com Media. "We intend to continue applying innovative technology and motivating our talented employees in order to stay ahead of the competition."

Keynote Systems provides IT and marketing executives with unbiased benchmarking data, competitive analysis and operational metrics from the customer perspective. The Keynote Study Customer Experience Rankings for Third Party Sites is based on an examination of 2,000 prospective car buyers as they researched performance tasks on third party auto sales and information sites. Keynote ranked the third party automotive sites in terms of their customer experience, based on over 250 metrics including evaluation of the vehicle search process, vehicle comparison search function, and information available on the site.

About Edmunds.com, Inc.

Edmunds.com is the premier online resource for automotive information. Its comprehensive set of data, tools and services is generated by Edmunds.com Information Solutions and is licensed to third parties and used by over 15,000 cars dealers including 98 of the 100 dealers named to the Ward's Dealer Business "e-Dealer 100" list. Perhaps the most popular consumer product, Edmunds.com True Market Value(R) pricing, is relied upon by millions of people seeking market-reflective valuations for new and used vehicles. The company also supplies content for the auto sections of NYTimes.com, AOL, CNN.com and About.com; provides weekly data to Automotive News; and delivers monthly data reports to Wall Street analysts. In addition, Edmunds.com publishes Inside Line (www.insideline.com), a free high-speed online magazine for auto enthusiasts, and CarSpace (www.carspace.com), an automotive lifestyle social networking Web site for anyone with an interest in automobiles. Edmunds.com was named "Best Car Research Site" by Forbes ASAP, has been selected by consumers as the "Most Useful Web Site" according to every J.D. Power and Associates New Autoshopper.com Study(SM), was ranked first in the Survey of Car-Shopping Web Sites by The Wall Street Journal and was rated No. 1 in Keynote's study of third-party automotive Web sites. The company is headquartered in Santa Monica, California, and maintains a satellite office in suburban Detroit.