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AutoMall Online Launches Nationwide Retail Strategy with General Growth Properties

7 August 2000

AutoMall Online Launches Nationwide Retail Strategy with General Growth Properties

    ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 7 Company president Gene Hickman
announced that AutoMall Online launched its nationwide retail strategy with
the opening of Mallibu.com within General Growth Properties' latest creation:
Stonebriar Centre, a 1.6 million-square-foot shopping destination located in
Frisco, Texas.  As a "virtual tenant" in Mallibu.com, AutoMall Online will be
featured in a centrally located, interactive mall oasis that includes plasma
screen displays, static signage, and internet terminals with direct access to
AutoMall Online's innovative website.
    By combining the physical mall shopping experience with the dynamic
advantages of the Internet, Mallibu.com provides a multi-channel business
model that turns in-mall shoppers into online sales.  General Growth
Properties plans to use Mallibu.com as the centerpiece of a nationwide e-
business strategy in its 136 regional malls, which have an existing customer
base of 35 million people making 1.3 billion mall visits each year.
    AutoMall Online's free, consumer-driven process provides instant and
guaranteed price-quotes from a nationwide network of over 19,000 dealerships.
AutoMall Online's participating dealerships post up-front prices as a dollar
amount above or below dealer invoice or MSRP.  Therefore, the AutoMall Online
consumer has a reliable and consistent price that's adaptable to the real-
world environment of dealer inventory.  AutoMall Online's dealer-friendly,
customer-driven business model has allowed it to build a larger dealer network
than the combined networks of such challengers as CarsDirect.com, AutoWeb
(AWEB), and Autobytel (ABTL).
    Despite continued consumer frustrations and a marketing and distribution
system that dealers find to be inefficient and expensive, no single business
model has emerged to dominate the e-auto sector.  Net losses continue to mount
for "referral" services while automakers deny inventory to "direct" sellers.
AutoMall Online, however, has carefully forged a course that both appeals to
consumers and works within the legal framework of the franchise system.

    AutoMall Online also offers AutoMall Rewards, a comprehensive customer-
loyalty program that remains unmatched in the e-auto sector.  AutoMall Rewards
lets car-buyers earn additional rebates on their next car purchase on any make
or model, whether new or used.  Other programs are restricted to specific
makes, impose redemption caps, or only provide for after-market redemptions.
Learn more about The Smartest Way to Buy a Car(TM) by going to
http://www.AutoMallRewards.com.