Spanish Autobytel Olay

MIAMI--Feb. 26, 2003--Terra.com, the U.S. Hispanic Internet portal of the Terra Lycos global network, and Autobytel Inc., a leading Internet automotive marketing services company, today announced the launch of a co-branded channel targeting Hispanic car buyers. Autobytel's popular car buying site Autoweb.com will provide new and used car fulfillment for Terra.com customers, offering them access to Autoweb's network of thousands of Internet dealers nationwide.

Accessible by clicking "auto" at www.terra.com, the new channel offers leading automotive information and interactive tools for researching and buying new and used cars, as well as strategic advertising options for marketers looking to tap into the coveted Hispanic segment. As such, it represents one of the most comprehensive auto marketing channels available to Hispanic Net shoppers.

"Autobytel is a great fit for us," said Terra.com CEO Manuel Bellod. "They're one of the biggest and best. They've also been a pioneering force in developing Spanish-language auto research tools and information -- they've really taken the industry lead in reaching out to Hispanic car buyers."

"One of our ongoing goals has been to provide Hispanic shoppers with the tools and information they need to make smart, informed car-buying decisions, and to help the auto industry connect with the Hispanic segment," said Autobytel Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Andrew Donchak. "Teaming up with Terra.com is an ideal way to achieve this goal."

The channel features Autobytel's leading research tools (available in English and Spanish), providing Terra.com visitors with a seamless, informative car-shopping experience as they progress from customized, feature-driven searches, to configuring a "real" vehicle (based on actual manufacturer options and packages), to automatically comparing that specific vehicle vs. multiple competing models on a single screen. Backed by authoritative new vehicle information provided by Autobytel's data division, AIC, the Terra.com research solution offers over 500 data points on every new car or truck sold in the U.S. Autoweb is also providing expert automotive reviews, financing and shopping advice, and safety information.

The new channel offers marketers highly targeted advertising tools, including content integration, data collection and database development, direct e-mail campaigns, and other Internet advertising options. The highly sought after U.S. Hispanic consumer segment -- with a current buying power of $500 billion (projected to grow to one trillion dollars by 2007) -- skews young, making it a prime consumer of auto and auto-related purchases. Hispanics, moreover, are poised to shop for vehicles online, with 70% of the U.S. Hispanic Internet users polled in a recent survey(a) indicating that they planned to use the web during the car purchasing process -- and 84% indicating that they would be even more likely to do their automotive shopping and research online if they could do so in Spanish.

Publishers Notes:

Something about separate but equal bothers me, and I would hope that it bothers those of us in the United States that have Spanish speaking ancestors or background as well.

Separate but equal is the rational of bigots and separatists, and has been shot down by the Courts that represent the law and morals of the citizens of our country.

So what gives with the Hispanics, aren’t they U.S. Citizens…shouldn’t they be able to go to Autobytels web site (in English) and get jerked around like the rest of us?

Why does this group need their own Autobytel?

Is an Irish only or Whites only or Blacks only (fodder for another rant) or a Catholic only or a Jewish only or French only or a German only or a Men’s only or a Women’s only or a Russian only version of Autobytel necessary to sell cars to these groups?

I can understand native language media that is aimed at newly arrived immigrants or cultural education for the young…so they don’t FORGET their ethnic or religious heritage…but hey, Hispanics have been in the U.S. quite a while, and I thought they mainstreamed but I guess I am wrong.

I know, I know, folks like to be able to read about and be entertained in their native tongue and vernacular…but I thought that English was the native tongue here in the United States and buying a car is not an enculturation experience to me.

There is an obvious push to continue to segregate a portion of US citizens by keeping them a separate group, with their own TV networks…newspapers … radio stations and now their own on-line auto lead generating services.

The advertisers that spend money in these segregated media only help the segregationists reinforce the differences between “them and us”…continuing to keep the separation going.

All the other immigrant groups found out that they and their children would be better off socially and financially when they became part of the mainstream. Hispanic publishers, communication companies, and other exploiters seem to benefit by keeping their constituency a separate and distinct (market) segment

Every immigrant group is proud of their heritage, but they all made it their business to fight to join the mainstream and become English speaking Americans, they also have the right and ability to speak the native tongue at home to keep it alive, but only Hispanics have been presented with the means to live separate lives in America.

This is ok if that’s what they want, but any downside from this way of life falls squarely on their own shoulders.

There cannot be any complaining about discrimination if a group chooses to continue to reinforce and even expand their differences.

How can English truly become our common language when corporations profit from our differences and not our commonalities?

I have always believed that if you were a US Citizen then English would be your language, and if you wanted to buy a car you could get screwed like the rest of us.