The Cobalt Group has been named to Deloitte & Touche's prestigious Technology Fast 50 Program for Washington State, a ranking of the 50 fastest growing technology companies in the area by professional services firm Deloitte & Touche LLP. With revenue growth of 830 percent over a five-year period (1998–2002), Cobalt, a provider of e-business products and services to the automotive retail market, ranked 19th of the 50 fastest growing companies in the state.

"Cobalt continues to add to its track record of steady growth by delivering the automotive retail e-business products and services that help our clients drive more profit to every area of their business," said John Holt, president and CEO of The Cobalt Group. "We now serve more than half of the nation's 22,000 automotive dealerships, we've developed deep partnerships with 18 automotive manufacturers and the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA), and we serve more CRM (customer relationship management) dealership clients than any other automotive e-business provider. Simply put, Cobalt continues to grow because we keep finding innovative ways to help our customers sell more cars and service more customers more profitably."

Cobalt's 830 percent increase in revenues from 1998 to 2002 resulted in a 19th ranking overall in the Fast 50 for Washington State. Cobalt has been part of the Fast 50 for four consecutive years.

"The Deloitte & Touche Washington State Technology Fast 50 companies have shown the strength, vision and temerity to succeed despite a very challenging technology environment," said Larry Hile, Technology, Media, & Telecommunications Partner of Deloitte & Touche's Washington State Technology Fast 50. "We applaud the successes of The Cobalt Group and acknowledge their place as one of the very few to accomplish such a fast growth rate over the past five years."

To qualify for the Technology Fast 50, companies must have had operating revenues of at least $50,000 in 1998 and $1,000,000 in 2002, must be public or private companies headquartered in North America, and be a "technology company" defined as owning proprietary technology that contributes to a significant portion of the company's operating revenues (using other companies' technology in a unique way does not qualify); and/or devoting a significant proportion of revenues to research and development of technology.

Winners of the 20 regional Technology Fast 50 programs in the United States and Canada are automatically entered in the Deloitte & Touche Technology Fast 500 program, which ranks North America's top 500 fastest growing technology companies.

For more information on the Deloitte & Touche Fast 50 or Fast 500 programs, visit www.fast500.com.

About The Cobalt Group

The Cobalt Group (www.cobaltgroup.com) works exclusively in the automotive retail market developing integrated e-business programs designed to help manufacturers and dealers increase their profits and operational efficiencies.

Cobalt offers products and services including enterprise software; customer relationship management (CRM) applications; e-commerce applications; OEM parts locating and marketing services; and e-business best practices training and consultation.

Cobalt says its network includes 12,000 franchised dealers and more than 72 of the 100 largest dealer groups. Cobalt says it is the only software technology provider ever endorsed by 18 manufacturers and the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA).

About Deloitte & Touche

Deloitte & Touche, a professional services firm, provides assurance and advisory, tax, and management consulting services through nearly 30,000 people in more than 80 U.S. cities.

The firm says it is dedicated to helping its clients and its people excel. Deloitte & Touche has been recognized as one of the "100 Best Companies to Work For in America" by Fortune magazine for six consecutive years.

For more information, visit www.deloitte.com/us.