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Cars
Type of site
Online motoring
Available inEnglish
OwnerCars Inc.
URLcars
CommercialYes
LaunchedJune 1998;26 years ago(1998-06)
Current statusActive
Content license
Yes
Cars Inc.
Company typePublic company
IndustryAutomotive marketing services
FoundedMay 2017;7 years ago(2017-05)
FoundersMitch Golub
William Swislow
Alex Vetter[1]
Headquarters
Chicago, Illinois
,
U.S.
Area served
United States
Key people
Alex Vetter, CEO and President[1]
Products
  • Cars
  • Auto
  • PickupTrucks
  • NewCars
ServicesAutomotive classifieds
Divisions
  • Auto
  • PickupTrucks
  • NewCars
  • DealerRater
SubsidiariesDR Media Holdings, LLC
WebsiteCars

Carsis an automotive classified website focused on the United States that launched in June 1998 and now is the second largest automotive classified site.[2]Its headquarters are located inChicago, Illinois.[3]

History

[edit]

A 2003Library Journalsurvey of automobile-related websites described cars as ranked the site positively, noting staff-written reviews that are signed, dated, detailed, and illustrated.[4]In 2004 the website announced a partnership withKelley Blue Bookand commenced national advertising.[5][6]In October 2007, it announced plans for its largest marketing campaign ever in early 2008.[7]In the same month,Yahoo!announced plans to receive listings from Cars for their Yahoo! Autos service.[8]

Cars was previously owned byClassified Ventures,LLC, a joint venture betweenGannett,The McClatchy Company,Tribune,Graham Holdings,andA.H. Belo.On August 5, 2014, Gannett announced that it would buy out the remaining stakes in Classified Ventures it did not already own, for $2.5 billion.[9][10][11][12][13]

In July 2016, Cars acquired dealer and service shop rating site DealerRater.[14]

Cars was included in the spin-off of Gannett's broadcasting properties asTegna, Inc.On May 4, 2017, Tegna shareholders approved a plan to spin off Cars as a new, publicly traded company; they received a share of the new company, which began trading on theNYSEbeginning on June 1, 2017, for every 3 Tegna shares they owned.[15][16]

In February 2018, Cars announced the acquisition of Dealer Inspire, adigital marketingagency serving automotive dealerships located in Naperville, Illinois.[17][18]

Marketing

[edit]

Cars has regularly advertised during theSuper Bowl,screening adverts in consecutive years.[19][20][21][22]

Television

[edit]

Since July 1998, Cars has been in partnership withthe MagliozzisofCar Talk[23]and the website includes a Cartalk advice section.[4]

Cars also partners withMotorWeekon PBS to provide online access to MotorWeek reviews.[24]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ab"About Cars".Retrieved2017-11-06.
  2. ^"Gannett buys the rest of Cars for $1.8 billion".Bloomberg Businessweek. October 1, 2014. Archived fromthe originalon 2014-10-04.
  3. ^"Company Facts".
  4. ^abCaroline Gilman,"Web Watch: Cars",Library Journal,January 15, 2003.
  5. ^Martin, Chuck (2011).The Third Screen: Marketing to Your Customers in a World Gone Mobile.Nicholas Brealey Publishing. pp.8–13.ISBN9781857885644.Excerpts availableatGoogle Books.
  6. ^"McClatchy-backed car venture launches national TV campaign".Sacramento Business Journal.May 3, 2004.Retrieved2013-07-24.
  7. ^Elliott, Stuart (18 October 2007)."Super Bowl XLII Is More Than CX Days Away, But..."New York Times.Retrieved28 April2010.
  8. ^Morrissey, Brian (16 October 2007)."Yahoo! Bets on Open-Network Approach".Adweek.
  9. ^Hall, Kevin."McClatchy, media partners confirm deal to sell Cars".The Sun News.Archived fromthe originalon 8 August 2014.Retrieved5 August2014.
  10. ^Yu, Roger."Gannett buying rest of Cars for $1.8B".USA Today.Retrieved5 August2014.
  11. ^Sherman, Alex."Gannett Agrees to $1.8 Billion Buyout of Cars Site".USA Today.Retrieved5 August2014.
  12. ^Hill, Kevin."McClatchy, media partners confirm deal to sell Cars".The Sun News.Archived fromthe originalon 6 October 2014.Retrieved6 August2014.
  13. ^"McClatchy Announces Agreement to Sell Its 25.6% Stake in Cars to Gannett".The McClatchy Company. Archived fromthe originalon 8 August 2014.Retrieved6 August2014.
  14. ^"Cars will buy DealerRater to create review giant".autonews.26 July 2016.Retrieved11 July2019.
  15. ^"Cars Spins Off From Parent TEGNA, Goes Through IPO".Search Marketing Daily.MediaPost Publications.Retrieved5 May2017.
  16. ^"McLean-based Tegna spins off Cars".WTOP.Retrieved5 May2017.
  17. ^"BRIEF-Cars.Com Announces The Acquisition Of Dealer Inspire And Launch Digital Marketing".reuters.14 February 2018.Retrieved25 January2020.
  18. ^"Cars acquires Naperville tech firms in $165M deal".builtinchicago.org.14 February 2018.Retrieved25 January2020.
  19. ^Tim Nudd,"Cars to Get Overly Dramatic in Super Bowl Ad From Mcgarrybowen",Adweek,January 22, 2013.
  20. ^Cars Super Bowl Commercial, "Bring OUt Your Confident You"Archived2010-02-11 at theWayback Machine
  21. ^Cars Cares
  22. ^Tim Nudd,"Cars 's Super Bowl Ad Stars a Man and His Excitable Appendage",Adweek,January 26, 2012.
  23. ^"Company History".Archived fromthe originalon 19 April 2011.Retrieved20 April2011.
  24. ^"Business Partners".Archived fromthe originalon 19 April 2011.Retrieved20 April2011.
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