SAN FRANCISCO and IRVINE, Calif. — Autobytel recently introduced AutoReach Ad Network, an advertising network of third-party Web sites designed to reach in-market vehicle shoppers.
Members of the AutoReach Ad Network include such sites as Overstock.com, TheTruthAboutCars.com, ClassicCars.com, Automobile.com, RightAutos.com, Vast.com and AutoMall.com.
"With the Internet well on its way to becoming the second-largest medium for automotive advertisers, we believe the AutoReach Ad Network provides industry marketers with an attractive option for making their advertising dollars go further," explained Jim Riesenbach, president and chief executive officer of Autobytel.
"By strategically targeting ads and promotions to automotive sites consumers visit often, the AutoReach Ad Network can help automotive advertisers reach qualified customers in the most cost-efficient way," Riesenbach added.
Officials explained that the AutoReach Ad Network offers advertising opportunities for Web site publishers but also provides advertising inventory for manufacturers who want to target in-market consumers.
AutoReach also monitors and manages each ad's performance to gage return on investment.
"As an innovator of the automotive Internet, Autobytel has a keen perspective on where the in-market automotive consumer is going online," noted Adrian Lee, vice president of business development at Automobile.com.
"We chose to join the AutoReach Ad Network because the program offers a cost-effective way for us to increase our ad revenue and work with larger advertisers without getting lost in the shuffle," Lee continued. "Autobytel's new ad network is committed to offering automotive consumers relevant advertising, as well as providing automotive advertisers with high quality customers for their products."
Added Riesenbach: "Automotive publishers are consistently looking to increase revenue on their sites with quality advertisers, but sales and ad operations resources are difficult to develop from scratch."
"By participating in the network, these complexities are eliminated for the automotive publishers as they bridge the challenges of building a comprehensive advertising program," Riesenbach continued.
Consumer Choice Awards Announced
Moving on, winners of the 2008 Autobytel/MyRide.com Consumer Choice Awards were announced at the National Automobile Dealers Association Convention in San Francisco last week.
According to the company, the awards recognize the vehicles most requested by Autobytel's online shoppers during the past year.
Winners of the Consumer Choice Awards were as follows:
Top Overall Most Requested New Vehicle - Toyota Camry
—Most Requested Truck - Dodge Ram
—Most Requested New Passenger Car - Toyota Camry
—Most Requested New SUV - Toyota RAV4
—Most Requested New Luxury Car - BMW 3 Series
—Most Requested New Minivan - Honda Odyssey
The Top 10 list of Overall Most Requested Vehicles for 2007 includes:
1. Toyota Camry
2. Honda Civic
3. Honda Accord
4. Mini Cooper
5. Nissan Altima
6. Toyota Corolla
7. Toyota Prius
8. Toyota RAV4
9. Honda CR-V
10. BMW 3-Series
"This year's Top 10 list for Most Requested vehicles underscores an increasing interest in fuel efficiency among online new-vehicle shoppers," officials commented. "While that's nothing new, it shows that fuel economy as an online purchase hot button has staying power."
"As gas prices continue to soar, and offline car shoppers continue to buy trucks in record numbers, Autobytel's online car shoppers are more frequently opting for fuel-efficient vehicles, even at the expense of vehicle size and capability," they continued. "Although accounting for over half of total U.S. sales in 2007, trucks and SUVs are notably absent at the top of Autobytel's Most Requested List."
Officials also anticipated further trends for 2008.
"Despite not making the list in 2007, trucks and especially SUVs/Crossovers are a category to watch more closely in '08," they pointed out. "General Motors' breakthrough two-mode hybrid technology and new line up of crossover vehicles like the Buick Enclave and new Chevrolet Traverse will give the automaker a significant fuel economy platform, especially when it comes to large SUVs like the Chevrolet Tahoe Two-Mode Hybrid."
"In addition, Ford and Toyota, with modestly redesigned hybrid versions of their SUVs hitting showrooms, may help breathe some life into the flagging category as fuel-efficient, eco-friendly hybrids," they continued.
"And with the impressive slate of better-designed, more cutting-edge and fuel-efficient vehicles coming from the Big Three in '08, the overwhelming dominance of import brands in Autobytel's 2007 Consumer Choice report, may see a domestic shakeup in 2008," they concluded.
MyRide.com
Moving on, MyRide.com also announced its most-researched vehicle, which was the Honda Civic.
"Given these turbulent economic times, $3.00-plus gas prices and Honda aggressively marketing themselves of late as ‘the most fuel efficient car company in America,' it's no wonder Honda's affordable, fuel-conscious sedan is seeing action at MyRide.com," officials commented.
Another trend the company pointed out is that most consumers visit MyRide.com, the first thing most do is search for a used vehicle.
While new vehicle sales in 2007 hit their lowest level since 1998, used sales have been running strong, officials noted. In fact, used sales were up 6.4 percent in December 2007 over the previous year, according to research.
Considering recent offline sales trends and news regarding the economy, the company noted it makes sense that more and more consumers are considering a used vehicle for their next purchase.
MyRide.com also announced the top-five accessory searches on MyRide.com, and coming in first was exhaust systems.
MyRide.com conducted a poll of online consumers and found that 71 percent typically research and shop for accessories online, either exclusively or in combination with visits to local retailers."
Recent studies show that 51 million Internet users search online for auto parts each year, with tires and accessories being the most popular search items. At MyRide.com, exhaust systems were followed by car alarms, performance parts, auto appearance accessories and tinted windows.
Additionally, MyRide.com noted its most viewed vehicle review on the site, which was Chevrolet Camaro Convertible Concept
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Autobytel Announces Ad Network, Highlights MyRide.com Trends
A Savior for Chrysler? Read On
In a letter to investors about the state of Cerberus Capital Management’s investments in Chrysler and GMAC, the firm’s founder, Stephen Feinberg, came off sounding at turns cavalier and ruthless, says Andrew Ross Sorkin in his latest DealBook column.
“We do not need to be heroes to earn a good return on the investment in Chrysler,” he said, which Mr. Sorkin suggests that he has no ambition to reinvent the troubled American automobile industry. Cerberus, after all, bought Chrysler on the cheap.
A Savior for Chrysler? Read On
By ANDREW ROSS SORKIN
“We despise all the public attention we are getting,” Stephen Feinberg, the secretive founder of Cerberus Capital Management, wrote to his investors last month. “We do our best to avoid the spotlight, but, unfortunately, when you do some large deals, such as Chrysler and GMAC, it is hard to avoid.”
Well, yes — and a letter like this certainly won’t help. Many Wall Street deal makers were shocked by it, BlackBerrying the letter around town with exclamation points in the subject line. One moment, Mr. Feinberg sounded cavalier about the prospects for the companies he controls. The next, he seemed cold and ruthless.
Cerberus is, of course, the hedge fund-cum-private equity firm that bought Chrysler last year for next to nothing. Mr. Feinberg is the brains behind the operation, but John W. Snow, the former Treasury secretary, is the frontman. Mr. Snow is trotted out for press conferences and interviews because of Mr. Feinberg’s self-described “disdain” for publicity. Dan Quayle, the former vice president, is also on the payroll.
To Mr. Feinberg’s apparent dismay, Cerberus — named for the mythical three-headed dog that guards the entrance to the underworld — has grabbed a lot of headlines lately. The reason is that people can’t stop speculating about whether its investments, notably Chrysler and GMAC, the former financing arm of General Motors, are going to go under.
Cerberus, which got into the private-equity game late, made perhaps the riskiest bets at the peak of the buyout boom. Indeed, if there is one buyout portfolio that Wall Street worries about most, it is Cerberus’. (Apollo Management, with its investment in Realogy, the real estate company, and Linens ‘n Things, is perceived as a close second, though I’m not sure we need to worry about them just yet.)
But Cerberus, more than any other private-equity firm, also finds itself thrust into the spotlight for another reason: It bought an American icon. If Chrysler, which has $18 billion in pension and health care liabilities for at least the next two years, winds up sinking into bankruptcy, it would be a watershed event. Such a failure might take down the entire private-equity industry — everyone in the business, bystander or not, would be tarred. It would be on the 6 o’clock news. Mr. Feinberg would be hauled in front of Congress. It would be considered a national crime. Remember the outcry when Kohlberg Kravis Roberts bought RJR Nabisco for $25 billion back in the 1980s? That was just a dress rehearsal.
No wonder regulars at The Four Seasons are nervous.
Mr. Snow has tried to paint Cerberus as Chrysler’s savior. In a speech to the Detroit Economic Club in July, he said that private equity in general and Mr. Feinberg’s firm in particular offer “perhaps the last, best hope of turning around the auto industry and basic manufacturing in the U.S.”
Which is why it is so disturbing to read Mr. Feinberg’s letter, which sounds downbeat about the economy and, at times, indifferent to the firm’s investments.
“We do not need to be heroes to earn a good return on the investment in Chrysler,” he said, suggesting he has no ambition to reinvent the troubled American automobile industry. Cerberus, after all, bought Chrysler on the cheap.
“We do not need to transition the car industry or even to return Chrysler to a much stronger relative position in the U.S. car market in order to be successful,” Mr. Feinberg continued. (This makes you wonder what Robert L. Nardelli, Home Depot’s former chief executive and $225 million man, does as chief executive of Chrysler.)
At one point, Mr. Feinberg says his firm’s “success does not depend on the future of GMAC, Chrysler, or any other single investment.”
Mr. Feinberg seems less indifferent — and more negative — about GMAC.
“GMAC is an investment about which we have significant concerns,” he wrote. “If the credit markets continue to decline and we find ourselves in a prolonged environment of capital market shutdown, GMAC could run into substantial difficulty.”
Despite all the unwanted attention, Mr. Feinberg is as sharp-elbowed as ever. He whined about ending up in court after Cerberus walked away from its deal to buy United Rentals.
“They hauled me and other Cerberus people into court, and prior to trial brought me to a deposition where they tried to pressure me by asking numerous personal questions that had nothing to do with the case,” he wrote. “We stuck to our guns, and the truth prevailed.”
To be sure, Mr. Feinberg, in his letter, was playing to his audience: his private investors, not the public. He tried to appear introspective and “disciplined,” which, on Wall Street, is code for ruthless. He even tried to humanize himself: “We need to remain vigilant, humble, hard-working, focused and disciplined. We cannot let up for one second.”
But set against everything else he said, those words rang hollow. Mr. Feinberg must have realized his letter backfired because by Friday, Cerberus was sending around a new statement to anyone who would listen.
“We continue to be extremely enthusiastic about our investment in Chrysler,” the statement said.
Trying to explain away Mr. Feinberg’s cheerless outlook on the economy, Cerberus said it “has an obligation to be forthright with our investors about all possible risks and uncertainties that could impact their investment.”
“Although we prepare for the worst-case scenario,” the company said, “it doesn’t mean that it will certainly happen: in fact, we are committed to doing everything in our control so that it doesn’t.”
Thanks for the assurance.
14,000 Chrysler hourly workers decide on buyouts
Monday was deadline for 14,000
BY TIM HIGGINS • FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER •About 14,000 Chrysler hourly workers faced a Monday deadline to express interest in buyout and early-retirement offers made by the automaker in hopes of reducing its workforce.
While Chrysler has said not all who raise their hands are likely to get the packages, which include lump sum payments of $70,000 or $100,000, the automaker is working to rid itself of as many as 10,000 hourly workers on top of the 11,000 hourly workers planned for elimination over three years as part of last February's announced turnaround plan.
A Chrysler spokeswoman declined to say how many people sought the offer.
Buyout and retirement packages are still on the table for workers at Chrysler facilities in Indiana, Kenosha, Wis., and Twinsburg, Ohio, with a Feb. 25 deadline.
Chrysler and the UAW are still in talks about offers for workers at Mopar parts facilities and the Newark, Del., Assembly Plant.
Facing the deadline Monday were workers at: Sterling Heights and Warren stamping plants, the Trenton and Mack Avenue engine plants, Conner Avenue Assembly Plant, Detroit Axle, Mt. Elliott Tool and Die and the Sterling Heights Vehicle Test Center. In addition some workers at the Sterling Heights Assembly Plant and Warren Truck Plant were offered packages and faced Monday's deadline.
At other plants, such as at Jefferson North Assembly, hourly workers faced deadlines in January.
The company may offer more packages soon, Chrysler spokeswoman Michele Tinson said.
Chrysler tech center workers may have lost jobs to H-1B contractors, union claims
Automaker says visa holders aren't doing work previously done by laid-off union members
Computerworld - Karen Trevaski worked at Chrylser LLC's technical center in Auburn Hills, Mich., until she was laid off two weeks ago along with 119 other employees. But Trevaski claims that foreign workers with H-1B visas remain on the job at Chrysler, using software systems similar to the one she used to design automotive parts.
Moreover, Trevaski believes that the H-1B workers were encouraged to learn a new version of Dassault Systèmes SA's Catia software, while she was not. "We had to fight to get V5 training," Trevaski said this week. "And the H-1B workers — they were just sending them for the training. That's why I'm angry — it's just totally wrong. It seems as if they just want to get rid of union people."
United Auto Workers Local 412, which represents the laid-off tech workers, is considering whether it should file a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, according to Walt Atkins, the local's first vice president.
"Why," Atkins asked, "have they got these people over here from another country, taking up American jobs, and [then] laying off American workers?" He said that there may be as many as 150 H-1B visa holders working for contractors in the technical center at Chrysler.
Chrysler spokeswoman Michelle Tinson said that the company has contract employees "in a variety of nonbargaining-unit positions, including managerial, engineering and other highly technical roles."
But Tinson said UAW members such as Trevaski may be mistaken in their belief that the contract workers are doing work that is similar to the work they did at the company. "We're not aware of any contract employee being used to perform traditional bargaining unit work," Tinson said. "If any such cases are brought to our attention, we will investigate and make corrections as appropriate."
In January, just prior to the recent layoffs at the technical center, Chrysler said it was forming a new design team and expanding its engineering activities overseas. At the time, The Detroit News reported that union officials were concerned about the outsourcing of jobs to other countries.
However, Tinson said that the most recent layoffs were part of an overall workforce reduction and weren't related to the overseas engineering expansion plan. Last February, the company said it would lay off 13,000 employees over a three-year period, and it added 4,000 more workers to the reduction plan in November.
Tinson added that Chrysler has reduced its contract labor workforce by 37%, or about 2,000 people, over the past year. "It's not as if the contract employees are not being affected with layoffs," she said.
Scott Watkins, a consultant at Anderson Economic Group LLC in East Lansing, Mich., said product design workers such as Trevaski aren't necessarily more vulnerable to layoffs than anyone else who works in the U.S. auto industry, because of the shrinking market share of automakers based here.
"Right now, I think everybody in the domestic automotive industry is vulnerable," Watkins said. "The vulnerability isn't necessarily related to a certain occupation or skill set. It's an industrywide vulnerability."
Watkins did say that Chrysler workers may have lost some clout after German-based automaker Daimler AG sold Chrysler to Cerberus Capital Management in August, bringing the U.S. company under private ownership.
Chrysler Begins Overhaul in Engineering
WALL STREET JOURNAL | DETROIT -- Six months after taking the helm at Chrysler LLC, Chief Executive Officer Robert Nardelli is beginning to move forward with his first major reorganization at the auto maker: a broad shake-up of its engineering operations.
In coming months, Chrysler will expand operations at engineering centers in China and Mexico and will prepare to open others in India and Eastern Europe as part of a push to internationalize a company heavily dependent on its home market in North America.
Mr. Nardelli is betting the overseas centers will help Chrysler cut engineering costs and move it forward in sourcing parts ...[subscription required]
Dodges dominate Daytona
by Steve Wronkowicz
I am co-host of the syndicated radio show: ON PIT ROW. Charlie likes too call me an "idiot". I'm not an "idiot"; I just prefer not to let the facts get in the way of my opinions.
After lackluster efforts testing, qualifying and practicing; where did all the Dodges come from?
Not much ink or bandwidth was wasted on the Ford and Dodge teams, other than the Robby Gordon story. So little credit was given to the Dodge teams that the biggest Dodge story was Kurt Busch’s run in with Tony Stewart’s fist.
When all was said and done and the checkers flew on the 50th Daytona 500, the Dodge Boys had captured the majority of top ten spots. Along with Ryan Newman’s win and Kurt’s second, Reed Sorenson, Elliott Sadler, Kasey Kahne and Robby all finished in the top eight, Only the Toyotas of Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch along with Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Chevy and Greg Biffle’s Ford made the top ten.
It is no wonder that Chrysler Corporation inked the Ganassi and Penske to new multi-year contracts to stay with Mopar.
Photo credit: BethAnne Heisler - ON PIT ROW/BRP
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