Cars.com Reveals a Sneak Peek of the 2001 Auto Show Season CARS-COM INTERNET VENTURE CARS.COM INTERNET VENTURE Times Mirror, Tribune and Washington Post launch online venture with cars.com internet company. The cars.com website will offer consumers the most complete source of online information about new and used vehicles as well as the largest,most current inventory of vehicles for sale, both locally and nationally. (PRNewsFoto)[KI] CHICAGO, IL USA 04/15/2000

28 December 2000

 Consumers Get a Preview of Cars to be Shown at Los Angeles and Detroit Shows

    CHICAGO, Dec. 28 The new car season moves into high gear
with the Internet's most comprehensive preview of the 2001 consumer auto shows
on cars.com.  A leading online car shopping site, cars.com launched its 2001
Auto Show preview coverage today.  The 2001 preview
( http://www.cars.com/autoshow2001.html ) includes descriptions and photos of
concept, production and show vehicles to be displayed at the 2001 Los Angeles
and Detroit auto shows.
    (Photo:  http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000415/CARSLOGO )
    "Cars.com's extensive interactive Auto Show coverage demonstrates our
commitment to the automotive consumer and support of the automotive retailer
by providing deep coverage of news and trends, written by leading automotive
industry writers," said Bill Swislow, executive producer of cars.com.  "Auto
shows generate enthusiasm and excitement for new cars and drive traffic into
the dealers' showroom."
    Media days for the Greater Los Angeles Auto Show will be held on January 4
and 5.  The LA auto show will be open to the public from January 6 through 14.
The Los Angeles Times is hosting the official site
( http://www.latimes.com/class/2001autoshow/ ) for the 2001 LA Auto Show.  The
site is "powered by" cars.com with links to our 2001 production vehicle pages
and global concept car galleries.  The Los Angeles Times will also be
directing its visitors to cars.com's auto show coverage during the press
preview days.
    Meanwhile in Detroit, about 5,000 journalists from around the globe will
descend on the Motor City during preview days for the North American
International Auto Show being held from January 7 to 10.  The Detroit auto
show will be open to the public from January 13 through 21.  During the
preview days, cars.com will post live-from-the-floor coverage and photos.
    In the interim, check out some of the hot concepts and future production
models that are featured in the cars.com Auto Show 2001 preview package.  "Our
LA sneak peek features photos of concept cars -- such as the pro
rally-inspired Chevrolet Borrego and the Porsche Carrera GT supercar -- and
the Solar Eclipse Project Car, which represents the latest trends in vehicle
customization.  Other highlights include a look at the show's Jaguar Roadster
Retrospective with images of the F-Type concept and 2001 Jaguar XKR
Silverstone Convertible," according to Mary S. Butler, senior editor of
cars.com.
    Preview coverage of the Detroit show includes the U.S. debut of the BMW
MINI Cooper; the 2002 Ford Thunderbird, a reincarnation of the 1955-57
roadster; 2002 Ford Explorer and Mercury Mountaineer SUVs; Nissan's
reincarnated Z-car and a dozen more concept vehicles.
    Later this year, cars.com will continue its comprehensive year-round auto
show coverage with reports from the Chicago auto show in February and from the
New York auto show in April.  To visit our comprehensive 2000 Auto Show
coverage, which features hundreds of concept and production car photos,
streaming video and coverage of the 2000 LA, Detroit, Chicago, Geneva, New
York and Paris shows, go to http://www.cars.com/autoshow2000.html .

    About our contributors:
    Michelle Krebs is an automotive freelance writer based in Detroit.  Her
articles regularly appear in the New York Times, Motor Trend, Consumers Digest
and numerous other national publications.
    Megan McCann is editorial director of GlobalAutoNet.com, a Michigan-based
automotive Web site.  Before joining GlobalAutoNet, McCann was online editor
of Automobile Magazine 's Web site and managing editor of its Buying and
Leasing Guide.
    Andy Mikonis is an automotive writer whose work has appeared in Auto
Restorer, Automotive Industries, Houston Chronicle, Old Cars Weekly, Popular
Science, Top Gear and other publications.  Motor News Media Corporation
distributes his syndicated auto repair advice column.
    Rick Popely is a freelance automotive journalist whose work has appeared
in the Chicago Tribune, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Consumer Guide Magazine,
Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine and other publications.
    Joe Wiesenfelder is a cars.com senior producer; John Jackson is a cars.com
producer; Jeffrey Smith and Casey Spring are apartments.com photographers.

    About cars.com
    Cars.com is a leading provider of Internet-based marketing tools for
automotive retailers and shopping tools for automotive consumers.  Cars.com is
the only Internet marketing company that provides dealers a complete Internet
marketing solution from customer acquisition through post-purchase customer
relationship management.  The result is to lower dealers' sales and marketing
costs through the entire automotive lifecycle.  Cars.com drives prospective
customers to dealers through e-mail, the telephone, the dealer's own Web site
and walk-in traffic.  DealerCenter is a Web-based portal that contains
CustomerCenter and SalesCenter, important tools that help automotive retailers
to more effectively manage their online and offline business.
    Consumers are drawn to cars.com for its user-friendly interface, deep
library of editorial content and decision-making tools, and inventory of a
half-million used and new vehicles held by dealers in their local markets.
Based on these features, cars.com is among the five most popular online
automotive shopping sites by unique visitors as measured by Media Metrix.
    Owned and operated by Chicago-based Classified Ventures, Inc., cars.com
also is carried by 120 local-market affiliates.  Classified Ventures, a
private company, is funded by Gannett Co., Inc., Knight Ridder, The McClatchy
Company, The New York Times Company, Tribune Company and The Washington Post
Company.