parts.com Signs 4 Platinum, 4 Gold, 1 Silver Agreements
22 March 2000
parts.com Signs 4 Platinum, 4 Gold, 1 Silver Agreements; Additional Bobby Rahal Dealerships Toyota and Lexus Added; 107 Dealer Agreements Pending
SANFORD, Fla.--March 22, 2000--parts.com, Inc. (stock symbol: MIRM), a leading real-time business-to-business e-commerce parts exchange, today announced that it has signed four new Platinum Territory Agreements, four new Gold Territory Agreements, and one new Silver Territory Agreement. In addition, it has 107 Dealer Territory Agreements pending. The new suppliers announced today collectively reported over $38 million in auto parts sales in 1999.The new agreements cover a broad range of vehicle lines, including Chevrolet, Chrysler, Plymouth, Honda, Infiniti, Lexus, Mazda and Toyota. Specifically, the signing of Bobby Rahal adds Toyota and Lexus, and Koons adds Chevrolet, Chrysler and Plymouth.
"In a manner not surprising to us or our dealership base, we continue to add dealerships to our exchange, which attests to the industry's strengthening acceptance of parts.com," said Shawn Lucas, parts.com's President and Co-Chief Executive Officer. "We have heard a lot of rumors with respect to the Big 3 announcement of an auto parts exchange. But the general purpose of that announcement is that they have joined forces strictly for the procurement of raw materials, which will have little or no effect on parts.com. In fact, many manufacturers are still in the process of reviewing our model and the OCTANE System, which has the potential to save manufacturers and suppliers tens of millions of dollars."
"Our negotiations with several globally positioned companies continue with respect to developing strategic alliances and accelerating the expansion of the parts.com exchange," Mr. Lucas added. "Our early roll-out of the parts.com exchange has provided us with a tremendous advantage, eliminating much inefficiency and enhancing current efficiencies in the automotive parts supply chain. With Internet-related businesses, speed to market, rapid expansion and customer service prevail."
parts.com's patent-pending business model calls for 170 Platinum Suppliers, approximately 7,000 Gold Suppliers and up to 14,000 Silver Suppliers to build the infrastructure needed for "just-in-time" auto parts. This platform is expected to enable the parts.com parts exchange to deliver parts within hours - or even minutes - of order placement.
About parts.com
parts.com provides a business-to-business e-commerce solution for the $600 billion auto parts industry. The site creates value for participants throughout the supply chain, including manufacturers, distributors and parts buyers, as a result of its unique, direct business model which eliminates a number of inefficient links in the supply chain inherent in the auto parts business. parts.com's technology and logistics plan enables parts suppliers to deliver their product more quickly and cost-effectively than through traditional distribution channels. parts.com was officially launched on January 23, 2000 at the National Automobile Dealers Association's (NADA) annual conference in Orlando, Fla.
(This news release includes statements that may constitute forward-looking statements pursuant to the safe-harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Although parts.com, Inc. believes the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that its expectations will be met. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from parts.com's expectations include the operational performance of parts.com, the Company's success in entering into strategic alliances, parts.com's and ReallyKnow.com's operational and financial performance, industry conditions, demand for its products, as well as other risks.)