Autobytel.com’s Global Expansion Drives Online Car Buying World Wide
Updated
Jun 10, 2004 22:45:57
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Description: Irvine, CA - June 8, 1999 - Autobytel.com (Nasdaq:ABTL), the leader in automotive e-commerce and services, has hit a home run with consumers and automotive dealerships in the United Kingdom. A cornerstone in Autobytel.com's global strategy, Autobytel.co.uk () launched in April 1999. "The United Kingdom is an important part of our global expansion plans because Internet usage and penetration in the UK today is similar to what it was in the United States a few years ago," says Mark Lorimer, autobytel.com inc.'s President and CEO. "When Autobytel.com launched in 1995, we were processing approximately 5,000 purchase requests per month. Today, in North America, in the first three months of 1999 alone, we processed nearly half a million purchase requests resulting in over $24 million a day, or $1 million an hour, of car sales." Autobytel.co.uk's entry into the United Kingdom's automotive market is generating positive consumer "buzz," interest from opinion-makers, and sales for the UK Accredited Dealer Network. Confirming Autobytel UK's successful launch, The Daily Telegraph trumpets, "Buying a new or used car is easier thanks to the British version of the impressive US car-dealing site Autobytel … There is also a Car Research section where you can do all the groundwork to ensure you're not getting ripped off." The Sunday Times states "The new arrival Autobytel promises Net shoppers the best value car, insurance, finance and warranty deals," and London's Campaign predicts, "…the forthcoming launch of Autobytel…will take the market by storm." According to an article in London's The Independent, "Industry surveys by JD Power confirm that Internet-generated sales are now responsible for 15 percent of all new car sales in the US; this should rise to a staggering 50 percent by the year 2000. The UK is fertile ground for such service…polls prove that seven million people have access to the Internet (that's 14 percent of the population); 10,000 households go on line each week and over 12 million should be hooked up by 2001." Says Lorimer, "we knew from the beginning that the UK would love Autobytel, and our licensing partner Inchcape, Plc felt the same way." The Autobytel.com program works on a worldwide level because the Company researches the market and creates relationships with partners who are able to best execute Autobytel.com's vision of no-hassle automotive purchasing for the consumer and cost-efficient, volume enhancing sales for dealers at a localized level. Autobytel.com joined forces with Inchcape, the world's largest independent importer and distributor of motor vehicles, to create Autobytel.co.uk. Autobytel.com receives a licensing fee for providing its brand name, web programming, data architecture, business know how and other services.
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