The Cobalt Group, a provider of e-business products and services to the automotive industry, announced on May 7 the availability of Cobalt's NADA Sales Accelerator Package, a new suite of e-business tools for automotive dealers designed to give consumers the ability to research, find and arrange purchase of a vehicle from a dealer online.

Sales Accelerator is one of Cobalt's five dealer e-business packages endorsed by the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA).

Sales Accelerator guides consumers through a three-step buying process right on a dealer's Web site. With Sales Accelerator, online car shoppers can configure the vehicle they want, find the closest match in a dealer's inventory, and place a credit card deposit to hold the vehicle through a secure Internet protocol. They can also find pricing information, calculate payments, check Internet specials, arrange financing and look up values for their trade-in using NADA Guides Dealer WindowLink, according to Mike Martinez, vice president of marketing for The Cobalt Group.

"With NADA Sales Accelerator, Cobalt has developed an innovative locate-to-order capability for automotive dealers' Web sites," Martinez said. "The step-by-step process gives consumers the tools they need to conduct any aspect of the purchase process online, and buy the exact car they're looking for, direct from a franchised dealer."

Jeff Stabile, director of Internet operations for Bill Gray Automotive in Pittsburgh, Pa., a beta-tester for Sales Accelerator, sees a promising future for the package. "Sales Accelerator is a straightforward, easy-to-use way for customers to buy a car online," Stabile said. "It should work very well for our customers who want to buy the right car at the right price, via an easy online system."

Sales Accelerator includes dealer e-business tools such as Cobalt's Make & Match(TM) configuration and inventory matching tool, Lead ManagerSM, and AdWizard(R) Plus online ad creation tool. The Sales Accelerator Package also includes e-business training for dealership personnel at Cobalt's two-day eDealer Academy. And as with all of Cobalt's NADA packages, Sales Accelerator includes Web site hosting and maintenance, e-mail AutoResponders, Traffic Reporter(TM) Web reporting tool, AutoShow(TM) Inventory Manager, eCare customer support, and automated posting of new and used inventory, according to Martinez.

About The Cobalt Group

The Cobalt Group(TM), headquartered in Seattle, is a provider of e-business products and services designed to help automotive dealers and manufacturers manage their businesses online.

Cobalt's suite of e-business solutions includes Web services, Web site hosting, e-commerce applications, Internet-based customer relationship management applications, data management, and best practices training and consulting.

Nearly half of the nation's auto dealers use Cobalt's technology, including 8,950 Web services clients, and approximately 9,000 PartsVoice(R) (www.partsvoice.com) clients.

Cobalt's e-business products and services are endorsed by 14 automotive manufacturers and more than 50 of the 100 largest dealer groups in the United States. Cobalt is the only e-business provider endorsed by the National Automobile Dealers Association.

Cobalt operates MotorPlace.com(TM) (www.MotorPlace.com), an online business management and industry information resource for auto dealers. At MotorPlace.com, dealers utilize Cobalt tools to manage their Web sites, buy wholesale used vehicles through MotorPlace Auto Exchange, locate and market OEM parts through PartsVoice, purchase leads through Pick-or-Pass, and access industry information, news, events, and stock quotes.

Cobalt also operates DealerNet(R) (www.dealernet.com), one of the most widely visited consumer automotive information portals on the Web.

IntegraLink Corporation, a Cobalt company, is a provider of automotive data collection and reporting services.

Cobalt has offices in Seattle, Wash.; Portland, Ore.; Detroit, Mich.; Columbus, Ohio; and Austin, Texas.

For more information, visit www.cobaltgroup.com or call 800/909-8244.