The Cobalt Group Expands Vehicle Inventory Distribution
12 January 2000
The Cobalt Group Expands Vehicle Inventory Distribution Through Alliance With Excite@Home; Cobalt Dealers Gain Access to Millions of New Car Shoppers
SEATTLE--Jan. 12, 2000--The Cobalt Group , a leading provider of Internet solutions for the automotive industry, today announced that it will dramatically expand consumer choice in online car shopping by providing its 280,000 new vehicle listings to Excite@Home , the leading broadband media company.In turn, Cobalt's auto dealer customers will gain exposure to millions of motivated car buyers nationwide.
Excite@Home will integrate Cobalt's dealer customers' new car listings into Excite.com, a leading portal site, and distribute the listings across Excite Classifieds.
"Excite.com is the launching point of choice for millions of online car shoppers, and Excite Classifieds is a powerful distribution channel for automotive listings. We are delighted that Excite@Home is now a key partner for The Cobalt Group and our dealer customers," said John Holt, co-chief executive officer of The Cobalt Group. "By leveraging our access to major Internet companies and our substantial volume of inventory listings, we're helping our dealer customers market directly to Internet shoppers."
"With their close dealer relationships and expansive automotive network, Cobalt is an important alliance for Excite@Home," stated George Bell, president of Excite@Home. "The new car listings represent valuable content for our Excite users as they research their automotive needs."
Inventory distribution on the Excite@Home network will be automatically available to all Cobalt Essentials Web Site Package(TM) customers. Users will be able to search through new vehicle listings and link directly to dealer Web sites to request a quote or schedule a test drive -- with only a few quick clicks. Distribution is scheduled to begin this month.
ABOUT THE COBALT GROUP
The Cobalt Group(TM) , based in Seattle, is a leading provider of Internet-based automotive products and services. Through Web development and hosting, data management and online car referral services, Cobalt helps dealers, dealer groups and automobile manufacturers harness the power of the Internet to better serve their customers.
With approximately 5,000 dealer Web site clients, over 10,000 dealers using its parts locating system, and relationships with 16 automotive manufacturers and more than 50 of the 100 largest dealer groups in the United States, Cobalt is one of the leading technology companies serving the automotive industry. Cobalt operates DealerNet(R) (www.dealernet.com), one of the best-known automotive destination sites on the Web, and PartsVoice(R) (www.partsvoice.com), a leading OEM auto parts locating and data management service. Cobalt offers Web site services that are endorsed by the National Automobile Dealers Association. For more information, please visit The Cobalt Group at www.cobaltgroup.com.