DaimlerChrysler said on Sunday it formed alliances with Ask Jeeves and the industry pricing guide Kelley Blue Book to build its corporate and US brands Web sites.
"We are looking at all possible ways to market (the Web sites) and raise the traffic levels," Gary Diltz, vice president of retail strategies, told reporters following a meeting between DaimlerChrysler officials and some of its 4,400 US dealers at the annual National Automotive Dealers Association convention in Orlando.
Diltz said DaimlerChrysler, unlike its competitors, has been quietly at work on its Web sites. The automaker has worked with Internet navigation system Ask Jeeves (www.ask.com) to make an "ask Chrysler" area on its Web sites.
DaimlerChrysler has also worked with the Kelley Blue Book to give consumers information on the sticker price on new cars, and the market price on used cars, Diltz said, with the price information going onto the carmarker`s Web sites.
However, DaimlerChrysler elected not to share the invoice price of its new cars with customers, a move that should give dealers some relief.
While General Motors and Ford Motor have made headlines in recent months with their Internet strategies, Diltz said DaimlerChrysler has been quietly at work to build its Web sites.
DaimlerChrysler executives have repeatedly said they will announce a more comprehensive strategy later this year to use the Internet to sell vehicles and cut material costs.
Last year, DaimlerChrysler dealers generated sales of 30,000 vehicles through leads from the automaker`s Internet sites last year, despite no marketing promoting online sales, Diltz said.
Leads from the sites resulted in an actual sale through one of its dealerships 25% of the time, above the 15 to 20% average for customers walking into a vehicle showroom from off the street, he said.
Diltz said DaimlerChrysler has invested $15 to $20 million in the "front end" of its Web sites, the part consumers see, but hundreds of millions of dollars more over the last three years in the back end computer systems to support the Web sites.
John MacDonald, senior vice president of sales and service, told reporters after he met with the dealers that DaimlerChrysler is committed to its dealer franchises. Future sales through the Internet will continue to be funnelled to the dealers, he said.
The dealers expressed some concerns over DaimlerChrysler`s selling of less than 40,000 high-mileage used cars on the open market, and quality with Jeep products, MacDonald said.
"There weren`t any major issues," he said.
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