Ford Direct: Five Years, Five More Divisions

FordDirect Celebrates Fifth Anniversary by Announcing its Expansion to Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo Brand Dealers

DEARBORN, Mich., Aug. 30 -- To celebrate five years in business, FordDirect is putting five candles in its anniversary cake. Not one for each year it's been operating, but one candle for each division added since inception with Ford dealers in 2000. First Lincoln and Mercury were launched, and now the company is announcing its expansion to Volvo, Land Rover and Jaguar divisions.

"The expansion beyond Ford dealers is a testament to FordDirect's success," said Steve Lyons, Ford Motor Company Group Vice President, North American Marketing, Service and Sales. "Last year sales from FordDirect referrals represented 9 percent of Ford Division retail sales. With these results it's easy to see why our other divisions and retailers want to take advantage of FordDirect's marketing services. "

FordDirect was incorporated in August 2000 and launched its first 15 dealers in New Jersey on December 20. Today, more than 4,200 dealers are enrolled in a FordDirect service, which include new, used and call tracking products. Each month FordDirect generates more than 150,000 Internet referrals for new vehicles alone with a web presence that reaches over 15 million Internet shoppers.

"FordDirect's success has been tremendous, and has vastly exceeded my expectations," said Bill Keith, dealer principal of Freehold Ford and Chairman of the FordDirect Board of Directors. "The unique nature of our joint venture is a great example of what dealers and the manufacturer can accomplish when they work towards a common goal. There's nothing like this in the industry!"

"We're excited to announce our new service offering to Volvo, Jaguar and Land Rover retailers and look forward to generating sales opportunities that will help drive business," said Steve St. Andre, FordDirect President and COO.

FordDirect services include:

* New Vehicle Marketing Services: Generates quality sales opportunities and consumer referrals by promoting dealerships everywhere automotive shoppers are online, from FordDirect and Ford brand sites to leading third party sites like Yahoo!, MSN, Kelley Blue Book and Edmunds.

* Pre-Owned Vehicle Marketing Services: Generates quality sales opportunities and consumer referrals by advertising a dealer's entire used inventory online. This includes postings on leading third party sites, such as AutoTrader, AutoMart, CarsDirect and more.

* Call Tracking: Tracks, measures and records incoming calls from dealer's advertising media. Call Tracking allows dealers to evaluate their advertising effectiveness and train their sales staff to better handle phone leads.

About FordDirect

FordDirect.com is a joint venture between Ford Motor Company and its Ford franchised dealers to provide marketing services to FMC dealers and a best-in- class online shopping experience for consumers. It is the only dealer- manufacturer partnership in the industry. Launched in August 2000, FordDirect has more than 4,200 participating Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Volvo, Jaguar and Land Rover dealers located in all 50 states. FordDirect.com is headquartered in Dearborn, Mich.