Edmunds.com Launches Spanish Multimedia Car Buying Guides

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Jan. 14, 2005 -- Edmunds.com, the premier online resource for automotive information, has launched a Spanish language version of its 2005 New Car Buying Guide, available for free at http://www.edmunds.com/spanish/buyguide/guide.html. This launch represents Edmunds.com's first venture into the Spanish language market.

The Edmunds.com editors review all the new or completely redesigned models each year. Their detailed and comprehensive analysis, found in the buying guides, provides vital information and key insight that consumers should consider before buying their next vehicle.

The Spanish multimedia buying guide consists of 98 pages of content, 55 photo galleries and 38 feature videos in Spanish. The content pages include reports on the new cars and trucks of 2005, an overview of each vehicle type, and a list of new models with links to full model summaries, including pros and cons. The photo galleries display each vehicle from a variety of angles.

The consumer experience is further enhanced by the videos, which are each approximately two to three minutes in length. Each video showcases a specific model, including action footage as well as an overview of the vehicle's features. The videos are offered at low bandwidth for dial-up modems with speeds of 56.6k or less and high bandwidth for DSL, cable modems and dedicated T-1 and T-3 lines.

"Sixty percent of online Hispanic households that bought a car in the last three years researched vehicles online," said Matthew Kumin, General Manager of Edmunds.com Media Properties. "We recognize the importance of serving Spanish language consumers in the way they are most comfortable."

Hispanics are the largest minority group in the United States, with an estimated buying power over $500 billion per year. As a group, Hispanics are signing up for home Internet service at a faster rate than non-Hispanics; however, over 56% of Hispanics not currently online point to the lack of Spanish content as the main reason.(1)

Of the 14 million Hispanics online, 63 percent consider the Internet the best source to learn about products and services they are in the market to purchase.(1) Almost half (49%) of Hispanic users prefer speaking Spanish or use Spanish and English equally.(1)

Hispanics are currently using the Internet to select automotive features and options, locate new car dealers and make actual car purchases at a greater rate than the general online population.

About Edmunds.com, Inc.

Edmunds.com is the premier online resource for automotive information. Its comprehensive set of data, tools and services, including Edmunds.com True Market Value(R) pricing, is generated by Edmunds.com Information Solutions and is licensed to third parties. For example, the company supplies content for the auto sections of NYTimes.com, AOL, About.com, iVillage,com and IGN.com, provides weekly data to Automotive News and delivers monthly data reports to Wall Street analysts. Edmunds.com also publishes a high-speed, on-screen car magazine called Inside Line available free at www.insideline.com. Edmunds.com was named "best car research" site by Forbes ASAP, has been selected by consumers as the "most useful Web site" according to every J.D. Power and Associates New Autoshopper.com Study(SM) and was ranked first in the Survey of Car-Shopping Web Sites as reported by The Wall Street Journal. The company is headquartered in Santa Monica, Calif. and maintains a satellite office outside Detroit.

(1) 2nd Annual America Online/RoperASW U.S. Hispanic Cyberstudy