Cars.Com Partners with About.Com to Fuel Auto Purchases
18 November 1999
Cars.Com Partners with About.Com to Fuel Auto Purchases
CHICAGO, Nov. 18 -- Cars.com has become the premiere provider
of new and used vehicle listings on About.com, Inc., , the
leading network of niche vertical sites.
Under terms of the agreement, announced today, the two companies have
created a co-branded section hosted on About.com's AboutAutos channel that
includes award-winning content offered on cars.com. Users can shop for a
vehicle, submit a quote request to a dealer and gather valuable information on
vehicle ownership using one resource.
"The agreement with About.com is a significant element in our national
distribution strategy, which includes agreements with several major Web
portals and national Web sites," said Bill Krohn, vice president and general
manager of cars.com. "With About.com we are creating a leading Internet
destination which will point millions of potential cars buyers to our
dealers."
Scott Kurnit, Chairman and CEO of About.com said, "We are very excited
that our niche vertical focus results in a win-win situation for us and
cars.com. Our highly targeted audience enables us to deliver the most
qualified visitors to the cars.com site. Through this partnership, we will
also enhance the content available to About.com users by providing them with
the critical tools necessary to make informed buying decisions in today's auto
market."
The partnership allows About.com's millions of unique and loyal users
access to the cars.com database of thousands of used car listings to find used
cars in their local area, as well as access to its new car shopping service.
By simply entering a vehicle choice and zip code, About.com visitors can
submit a quote request to a local dealer.
The co-branded area will also have the added benefit of vehicle inventory
updates that cars.com conducts on a daily basis. In addition, the cars.com
relationship with National Public Radio's nationally syndicated CAR TALK(R)
will be extended on About.com. About.com will feature specific CAR TALK
content such as Dear Tom & Ray, Mechan-X-Files, Lemon Laws and Survey Results.
The added content will provide consumers with additional automotive advice as
well as entertainment value for car enthusiasts of all levels.
About About.com
About.com is the leading network of niche vertical sites for users and
marketers. The network includes over 650 highly targeted environments, each
overseen by a professional guide. Each vertical niche provides a
comprehensive consumer experience including the Internet's best link
directories, original content, community features and commerce opportunities.
Media Metrix (September 1999) ranks About.com as the largest news, information
and entertainment Internet property.
About cars.com
Cars.com simplifies local new and used car shopping on the Internet. With
inventory in 26 of the top 30 U.S. markets, cars.com is the only automotive
Web site to provide daily updates of dealer inventories. Cars.com allows
consumers to search vehicle listings by zip code, vehicle make, model and year
and easily submit a quote request to a car dealer by e-mail, fax or telephone.
In addition to vehicle pricing, cars.com provides consumers with trusted
automotive information, including rich editorial content pertaining to real-
life issues such as how to purchase a vehicle and tips for parents of young
drivers. The site also provides consumers with tools such as an auto loan
calculator, news and reports on new and used vehicles, more than 3,500
independent automotive reviews (1983-present), vehicle performance data and
vehicle recall information. Cars.com is a division of Classified Ventures,
Inc., which is based in Chicago.
About Classified Ventures
Classified Ventures provides nationally branded online services for the
developing e-commerce opportunities in the classified advertising marketplace
that build upon the local capabilities and expertise of a national affiliate
network of more than 130 newspapers. The company currently operates the
national Web sites Apartments.com(TM), http://www.apartments.com , auctions.com(TM),
http://www.auctions.com , cars.com(TM), http://www.cars.com , MovingCenter(TM),
http://www.movingcenter.com and NewHomeNetwork.com(TM), http://www.newhomenetwork.com .
Classified Ventures also operates HomeHunter(TM), a local resale real estate
service.
Classified Ventures, Inc., based in Chicago, was formed by eight leading
media companies - Central Newspapers, Inc., Gannett Co., Inc., Knight Ridder,
The McClatchy Company, The New York Times Company, The Times Mirror Company,
Tribune Company and The Washington Post Company.
Contact: Nevenka Todorovic of cars.com, 312-575-2700, e-mail,
ntodorovic@cars.com, Laura Margolis, of PR 21, 312-396-9726, e-mail,
laura_margolis@pr21.com.