Kia Motors America Partners With Cobalt for New Dealer Website Program

SEATTLE, June 10 -- Cobalt, the leading provider of digital marketing services to the retail automotive industry, today announced that it has entered into a partnership with Kia Motors America (KMA) as the solely endorsed website provider for all Kia dealer websites.

Kia Motors of America selected Cobalt for Kia's iPower Website Services program, a new phase of Integrated Marketing Services for Kia dealers.

The new iPower websites, built by Cobalt, are designed to provide Kia dealers with a highly engaging, powerful and integrated online showroom, and will fully integrate into the Kia iPower program. Program integration allows for enhanced reporting and visibility into interactive trends and opportunities while reducing lead duplication.

These leading edge website bundles offer highly engaging tools and assets for consumer interaction, custom designs to enhance the Kia brand and more flexibility than ever before for the Kia dealer to create and manage website content, features and other important integrations they need to build their own unique brand. The iPower Websites also offer brand new, consumer-tested vehicle inventory search and display that increase visitor to lead ratios with compelling imagery and layouts.

"Kia dealers recognize that shoppers are using Internet search sites, as well as dealer websites, more than ever in the vehicle shopping process. With that in mind, we have developed the iPower Website Program to give Kia customers a highly engaging internet shopping experience," says Ryan Wein, Kia Motors America's Internet Lead Marketing Manager.

"We chose Cobalt because they understand customer's needs and they offer a comprehensive solution that will greatly benefit Kia dealers. The new iPower Website Program provides our dealers with a new, best-in-class inventory solution, brand new, flexible website designs, industry-leading organic search optimization and iPower program integration.

"These new websites also provide our dealers with the opportunity to easily make edits and the ability to tailor their websites to meet local business conditions."

Cobalt's website platform incorporates frameless architecture, best-in-class organic search compatibility, and enhanced content management tools making it easier than ever to update dealer websites.

"Cobalt is excited to expand our relationship with Kia through the iPower Websites program. KMA understands that consumers today are using the dealership website as a central point of reference making it a direct extension of the physical store," Cobalt CEO John Holt said. "Kia and Cobalt agree that the best strategy for success is to maximize Kia dealer investments in online marketing and advertising through improved coordination by leveraging the Kia brand site features and content at the dealer level, which improves the consumer experience and increases visitor-to-lead conversion."

About Cobalt

Cobalt is North America's leading provider of automotive marketing services. For thirteen years, Cobalt's mission has been to help automobile dealers and manufacturers increase their retailing effectiveness and profitability. Cobalt provides marketing services to nearly half of the automotive dealerships in the United States, as well as automotive dealers in Canada and Mexico. Cobalt's marketing services are endorsed by two-thirds of the world's major automotive manufacturers.

About Kia Motors America

Kia Motors America (KMA) is the sales, marketing and distribution arm of Kia Motors Corporation based in Seoul, South Korea. KMA offers a complete line of vehicles through more than 640 dealers throughout the United States. For 2007, KMA recorded its 14th consecutive year of record U.S. sales. Kia Motors subscribes to a philosophy of building high value, high quality, safe and dynamic vehicles. Kia Motors prides itself on producing vehicles that are exciting and enabling and evoke the Kia tagline "The Power to Surprise."