The Cobalt Group, a provider

of e-business software and services to the automotive retail market, announced a partnership with New York Times Digital, the digital business

unit of The New York Times Company. 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 says its 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 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 and includes 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 technology, broad range of services and domain knowledge.

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.

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).