The Cobalt Group Partners With New York Times Digital to Expand Dealer Inventory and Services On NYTimes.com/autos

Business Wire, Oct 17, 2002

Business Editors & Automotive/Technology Writers

NEW YORK & SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 17, 2002

The Cobalt Group, a leading provider of e-business software and services to the automotive retail market, today announced a partnership with New York Times Digital, the digital business unit of The New York Times Company (NYSE:NYT).

Cobalt is now providing visitors to NYTimes.com's automotive section (NYTimes.com/autos) with expanded access to new and used vehicle listings from 650 dealers in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Cobalt will be responsible for the development, hosting and maintenance of listings pages on NYTimes.com/autos. In addition, Cobalt will manage the vehicle inventory data from participating auto dealers and private sellers. Cobalt's technology will also allow for the incorporation of dealer inventory and newspaper classified listings onto NYTimes.com.

"We are pleased to partner with The Cobalt Group as we continue to expand and enhance our automotives channel," said Jeff Moriarty, director of classified operations for NYTimes.com. "Dealers will now be able to gain exposure to the affluent, high-quality audience on NYTimes.com that is shopping for vehicles, and users will benefit from Cobalt's seamless integration of dealer inventory and classified listings from The New York Times newspaper."

The site includes "Quick Search" functionality from the section front of NYTimes.com/autos, as well as tools for advanced searching, locating dealers, researching vehicles and selling vehicles. Using these tools, visitors to NYTimes.com/autos can research their dream car, conduct side-by-side comparisons of different makes and models, or locate a specific dealership and search its entire inventory. Dealers will also be able to purchase enhanced, premium packages that include additional tools such as "Quick Quote."

"This partnership benefits both Cobalt's network of participating dealers and NYTimes.com's users," said Terry Smail, executive vice president of global client services for The Cobalt Group. "By providing dealers with a convenient solution for marketing vehicles to online buyers, NYTimes.com is driving traffic to dealer Web sites and potentially increasing vehicle sales. Cobalt's database of nearly 135,000 vehicle listings will also offer a compelling resource to in-market car shoppers."

In addition to NYTimes.com/autos, Cobalt provides automotive shopping portals for manufacturers and large dealer groups as well as private label auto classifieds for media companies such as The Houston Chronicle (ChronicleCars.com), Palm Beach Post (PalmBeachClassifieds.com), and Austin American-Statesman (StatesmanClassifieds.com).

About New York Times Digital

New York Times Digital is the digital business unit of The New York Times Company (NYSE:NYT) and includes market leaders NYTimes.com and Boston.com, as well as an archive distribution business. NYTD's mission is to provide a high-quality, worldwide online audience with trusted editorial content from The New York Times and The Boston Globe.

About The Cobalt Group

The Cobalt Group works exclusively in the automotive retail market to help manufacturers and dealers develop integrated e-business programs by leveraging its industry-leading technology, broad range of services and deep domain knowledge. As a leader in automotive e-business, Cobalt is uniquely positioned to help its customers maximize their overall operating efficiencies and profits.

Cobalt offers a broad range of products and services developed specifically for the automotive marketplace, including enterprise software for manufacturers and dealers; customer relationship management (CRM) software applications; online automotive commerce applications; the industry's largest OEM parts locating and marketing service; and dealership e-business best practices training, consulting, and process compliance analysis.

Cobalt operates a dealer network larger than any other technology provider in the automotive retail industry, including 12,000 franchised dealers and 72 of the 100 largest dealer groups. Cobalt is the only software technology provider ever endorsed by 16 manufacturers and the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA).

With headquarters in Seattle, Cobalt has offices in five U.S. cities, and a field sales and services force in 30 states, including all major U.S. metropolitan sales areas (MSA).