Turnkey parts marketing suite helps dealers and manufacturers increase profits, efficiencies and market share

SEATTLE (July 16, 2002) - The Cobalt Group today announced the immediate availability of Cobalt Parts Works, the most comprehensive suite of online parts marketing and exchange services available to the automotive industry. Parts Works combines Cobalt's best practice parts management and marketing expertise with its proven technology and industry presence to increase dealers' and manufacturers' parts business profits, efficiencies, and market share.

"Using the Parts Works suite of products, parts managers and manufacturers can take advantage of Cobalt technology and best practices to market their parts inventory and increase sales volumes," said Mike Bell, vice president and general manager of Cobalt Parts Works. "We've designed every element of the Parts Works suite to be easy for parts managers to use, and to help them sell parts more efficiently and more profitably with minimal additional work."

The Parts Works suite of online parts marketing products and services enables parts managers to sell more parts at higher gross, increase their wholesale and retail parts customer base, reduce idle and obsolete stock, improve departmental efficiencies and ultimately improve customer satisfaction.

Bud Guyette, parts manager at Bill Pierre Ford in Seattle, Wash., uses Parts Works to reduce idle stock and to purchase discount parts. "Parts Works has been a tremendously valuable tool in growing our parts department," said Guyette. "With Parts Works I've reduced my idle stock, eliminated parts returns to Ford, and generated nearly $400,000 in additional profit for the dealership last year."

A key component of the Parts Works service is the Cobalt Parts Management Marketing Kit, a blueprint for success to help parts managers maximize profits using their Parts Works tools. The kit contains a step-by-step parts marketing process that includes best practice guidelines for selling parts more profitably, online parts marketing plans, and templates for online and offline parts marketing materials.

The Parts Works suite includes the following products and services:

• Parts Counter Express™: An online parts catalog and inventory management tool for dealership Web sites. Through a user-friendly interface on the dealer's Web site, wholesale and retail customers can research parts by year, make and model, search the dealer's parts inventory, and order parts.
• PartsVoice® Parts Locator: The industry's largest, most established, and most active original equipment manufacturer (OEM) parts locator allows dealers to locate and purchase OEM parts including hard-to-find and back-ordered parts. This expansive online database of more than 138 million OEM parts from 9,000 dealers, 17 automotive manufacturers and 39 vehicle makes attracts thousands of buyers each month.
• Idle Stock Relocator™: Online service that converts idle and obsolete parts to working capital by matching buyers and sellers of this inventory.
• PartsVoice® Discount Parts Locator: Online application that advertises slow-moving parts inventory at reduced rates to make room for more profitable parts.
• Critical Parts Application: Automated service that locates back-ordered parts.
• Parts Lead Generator™: Sends qualified leads from industry professionals who want to buy parts from a dealership.
  

Parts Works is accessed through www.cobaltpartsworks.com. Parts Works products are available as a complete package or may be purchased separately on a monthly subscription basis from Cobalt. Dealers and manufacturers interested in finding out more about how Parts Works can make their parts business more profitable should call (800) 909-8244 or visit www.cobaltpartsworks.com.