The Cobalt Group, a provider of e-business software and services to the automotive

retail market, announced that it has acquired Cowboy Corp, an automotive customer relationship management (CRM) solutions company.

The acquisition brings together Cobalt Lead Manager, a lead management system, with Cowboy's

Prospector, a CRM system,

creating a combination that the company says will help dealers increase sales, customer

loyalty and customer retention.

"By adding Cowboy's rich capabilities to Cobalt's unique ability

to successfully manage high performance, large scale, and reliable

automotive e-business programs, Cobalt now provides the automotive

retail market with the most complete CRM solution available," said

John Holt, president and CEO of The Cobalt Group. "The resulting suite

of products and services will help manufacturers and dealers manage

every facet of customer interaction, resulting in increased sales,

more repeat business, and additional bottom line profit."

According to the company, the acquisition brings together the two organizations'

complementary J2EE-based technology platforms, allowing Cobalt to

advance the continued development of its CRM suite. Cowboy's

Prospector consolidates consumer information from multiple dealer

databases and touch points and tracks the value of the customer to the

dealer throughout the customer lifecycle.

"The Cobalt Group is the clear market leader in automotive

e-business, and Cowboy is excited to become an important part of such

an innovative and visionary company," said Ruby Osten, Cowboy Corp

chairman and CEO. "By combining Cobalt's proven technical prowess,

market share position, and broad channels of distribution with our

innovative applications, we can together deliver a comprehensive suite

of CRM solutions that meet the needs of every segment of the

automotive market -- from the single point dealership to the dealer

group to the OEM."

In addition to Prospector, Cowboy also brings to Cobalt Cowboy

Fulfillment Services (CFS), the recently announced call center and

fulfillment services joint venture with CenterOne Financial ServicesSM

(CenterOne). CFS is fully integrated with Prospector and the product

made its official public debut at the 2003 National Automobile Dealers

Association Convention and Exposition.

"Cobalt's reputation for a relentless focus on execution,

compelling market vision, and commitment to helping make their

customers and partners successful speaks for itself, and we are

delighted that Cowboy has joined Cobalt," said CenterOne president

Brent Burns. "When you put their combined strengths together with

CenterOne's automotive services expertise, we believe you have the

best dealer CRM solution in the industry. Our combined extensive

experience in executing consumer-driven programs will provide retail

dealers with tremendous upside opportunity," he added.

The company says Cowboy also brings Cobalt added strength in computer-telephony

integration for dealerships. Complementing Cobalt's recently announced

Media Tracker product, a performance measurement system that measures

the return on automotive marketing investments by monitoring and

reporting on inbound calls on Cobalt provided toll free phone numbers,

Cowboy Telephony tracks all of the calling activities at dealerships.

Cowboy Telephony provides dealers with customer information in

real-time as phone calls are received, giving dealers the ability to

view incoming calls through Prospector. Outbound calls can be made by

clicking on the contact's phone number listed in Prospector.

Cowboy Telephony captures all calls, inbound and outbound, recording

the length of call, missed calls, personal calls, as well as caller

IDs for demographic reporting information.

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 technology, broad range of

services and domain knowledge. Cobalt says it 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; OEM parts locating and marketing

service; and dealership e-business best practices training,

consulting, and process compliance analysis.

Cobalt operates a dealer network including 12,000 franchised

dealers and more than 70 of the 100 largest dealer groups.

With headquarters in Seattle, Wash., Cobalt has offices in several

major U.S. cities, and a field sales and services force in 30 states,

including all major U.S. metropolitan sales areas (MSAs).

For more information, please visit www.cobaltgroup.com or call

800-909-8244.

About Cowboy Corp

Cowboy Corp is an Application Service Provider (ASP) providing

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Lead Management

products and services, as well as Web sites for

the automotive retail industry. Cowboy's flagship product, Prospector,

is a software application that integrates all

departments' customers and leads into one database and

interfaces with existing Dealer Management Systems (DMS). Features

include third party lead integration, customized automated follow-up,

email campaign manager, daily agenda, live desk log, electronic

worksheet, automated service reminders and mileage follow-up, drivers

license swipe, wireless notification, extensive management reports,

data mining and inventory tools. For more information regarding Cowboy

Corp and its products or to arrange a test drive of the Prospector 3

system, please visit the corporate website at www.cowboycorp.net.

About CenterOne Financial Services

CenterOne Financial Services is a member of the JM Family

Enterprises, Inc. (JMFE) group of companies. JMFE is a $7.8 billion

diversified automotive company whose principal businesses focus on

vehicle distribution and processing, financial services, warranty and

insurance products and services, and third party services. With roots

grounded in the automotive industry, CenterOne brings

knowledge and expertise to its clients. Its servicing solutions

include fulfilled CRM, loan and lease servicing, collections,

pro-active remarketing and vehicle remarketing.