Autotrader.com cross-shopping data shows BMW top cross-shopped vehicle among Saab shoppers.

ATLANTA – December 18, 2009 – With the announcement today that GM will shutter its Saab division, BMW may be a winner, according to cross-shopping data from AutoTrader.com, the ultimate automotive marketplace.  Thirty-three percent of Saab shoppers also looked at BMW vehicles while researching and comparing new and used vehicles on AutoTrader.com, a larger percentage than looked at any other brand.

Audi, another German manufacturer, may also see some new customers, as 31% of Saab shoppers also looked at Audi models listed for sale on AutoTrader.com.

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Search “Car Dealer Review Websites” in Google and your results are something like this…

How do they rank using Compete.com?…

Comparing review sites exclusive to car dealers ONLY.

Are you using these sites to your advantage, and if you are..which one(s) are you leveraging or watching?

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Expansion of Autobytel’s New Car Program Provides Dealers with Access to Most Comprehensive VIN-based Coverage in the Industry

Irvine, CA December 2, 2009 Autobytel Inc. (Nasdaq: ABTL), a leader in providing online consumer leads and marketing services to the auto industry, today announced a new agreement with Edmunds.com, Inc. to include inventory-based leads sourced directly from the Edmunds.com site as part of its New Car Leads Program for dealers. The inclusion of VIN-based leads from Edmunds.com, widely considered to be one of the top online destinations for prospective car-buyers, is the latest step in the evolution of Autobytel’s New Car Leads Program to meet increasing consumer demand for specific online inventory.

“We are pleased to expand our relationship with Edmunds.com to include these high conversion, high purchase intent leads as part of our new car Leads Program for dealers,” said Autobytel COO Mark Garms. “With data showing that new car shoppers are five times* more interested in specific inventory than in price quotes, it is critical to generate the broadest range of highly motivated inventory-based car shoppers. This is exactly what the Autobytel program is designed to do as it gives dealers access to the most comprehensive VIN-based inventory lead coverage in the industry.”

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Waltham, MA (December 3, 2009) — DealerRater.com, the nation’s premier car dealer review Web site, announced today that the Web site has gathered more than 100,000 reviews written by DealerRater.com community members.

“We officially hit our 100,000th review on Monday, November 30th,” reports Chip Grueter, president of DealerRater.com. “We are thrilled to reach this exciting milestone and it speaks to the strength of participation in our community. It was a happy coincidence that the review that put us over the top was a positive review for one of our Certified Dealers, Bourne’s Auto Center.”

DealerRater shared the milestone celebration by providing gifts to both the DealerRater reviewer as well as the dealership that was the recipient of the 100,000th review.

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TORONTO, November 30, 2009 – As the global auto industry works to recover from last year’s sales slump*, auto dealers across Canada have been faced with one of the most difficult years ever. To help move vehicles from dealer to driveway, Kijiji Autos is making it easier for Canadian dealers to reach millions of car and truck buyers online.

Kijiji Autos today announced partnerships with several of the country’s leading vehicle inventory management and data collection companies, giving auto dealers easier access to millions of Canadian consumers. Partners include Boost Motor Group, eDealer.ca, Evolio and Strathcom Media.

Kijiji is providing partners with access to the organization’s application programming interface (API), so that they can now use Kijiji.ca as a means to reach millions of online car buyers directly through Canada’s most popular auto classifieds site**.

“Dealers have told us that they need a simple, straightforward, and cost-effective solution to get their cars onto Canadians’ driveways,” said Ran Ravitz, Head of Kijiji Autos Canada. “By opening up the Kijiji API to dealer inventory management tool providers, Kijiji connects thousands of car dealers with millions of car buyers, right in their local markets. We are thrilled about our new partnerships and confident that our collaboration will benefit both dealers and car buyers in Canada.”

“Giving our customers access to Kijiji’s millions of users is where the virtual rubber meets the actual road,” said David Campbell, President of Boost Motor Group. “The affordable option to push dealer inventory onto Kijiji.ca will be of massive benefit to auto dealers trying to survive in this economic environment.”

The partnership means that dealers can upload inventory to Kijiji.ca through a simplified interface with a per car/per month structure. Inventory pushed onto Kijiji.ca through these inventory management partners will automatically include links to the local dealership’s website, free placement of the dealership’s logo, and a branded page for the dealership. Dealers simply pick the inventory they want to push onto Kijiji.ca and click-to-sell.

“As experts in Internet car sales, we are always paying close attention to the top online destinations,” said Chris Whitehead, President of eDealer.ca. “Our dealers expect the best in advanced technology and digital marketing tools to help sell their inventory with online auto buyers, and Kijiji Autos will surely be an attractive online car lot for our dealers.”

Canadian auto dealers will also benefit from recent upgrades to search functionality on Kijiji.ca that helps users find their next car based on preferences, including vehicle make, model, year, price range, body type, transmission, drive train, and even fuel type. The more detailed search makes it easier for dealers and consumers to find their perfect match.

“As a leading information technology company for automotive software products, Strathcom Media is very excited to add Kijiji Autos to our multi portal syndication services for Canadian car dealers,” said Rob Reay, President of Strathcom Media. “Partnering with Kijiji Autos gives our customers access to one of Canada’s most visited sites for showcasing vehicles online.”

“At Evolio, we serve more then 1,200 new and used automotive dealers, and keeping them on the leading edge of online auto sales is what we do best,” said Stefan Fiore, Director of National Sales at Evolio. “This partnership with Kijiji Autos will add great value for our online auto sellers and the automotive dealership industry at large.”

Each month, around 8 million Canadians visit Kijiji.ca for free local classifieds in 99 cities across Canada. In the month of October alone, more than 3.05 million online Canadians visited the Kijiji Autos – making it the most visited auto classifieds website in Canada.

* Scotia Economics, Global Auto Report, Oct. 30, 2009

** Kijiji.ca’s Cars & Vehicles category receives over 1 million unique visitors more than the other leading competitor in Canada, according to third party measurement firm comScore Canada.

About Kijiji
Kijiji, which means “village” in Swahili, is a group of classifieds-style web sites that offer a convenient, fun, and easy way for people in the same city to meet, trade, share ideas, and help each other out in areas such as housing, jobs, goods, services, cars, and personals. The entire Kijiji family includes the Kijiji, Gumtree, LoQUo, Intoko, and Marktplaats brands. Kijiji sites are currently available in over 1500 cities in more than 20 markets around the world; it is the most visited classifieds site in Canada with more than 7.7 million unique visitors per month (comScore MediaMetrix, October 2009).

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