Edmunds.com to Provide Enhanced Automotive Photography to Car Industry

Edmunds.com to Provide Enhanced Automotive Photography to Car Industry

Hyundai Becomes First Automaker to Place Order; Reynolds and Reynolds, Dealer.com, HomeNet and XIGroup to Distribute Enhanced Imagery for Dealership Web Site Use

NEW ORLEANS, Jan. 31 /PRNewswire/ -- Edmunds.com (http://www.edmunds.com/), the premier online resource for automotive information, today announced the launch of its enhanced automotive imagery products.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20031009/LATH011ALOGOhttp://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050110/LAM047LOGO)


The enhanced imagery, optimized for both Web and print applications, will be used within Edmunds.com's own media properties, and by clients who license the imagery through Edmunds.com or one of the company's distribution partners. Hyundai is the first automaker to license the imagery, while Reynolds and Reynolds, Dealer.com, HomeNet and XIGroup have agreed to be initial distribution partners and are currently demonstrating these products at their booths at the National Automobile Dealers Association convention in New Orleans.

"Hyundai looks forward to using enhanced imagery to showcase our vehicles," said Paul Sellers, Executive Director of Marketing for Hyundai Motor America. "We know we can trust Edmunds to deliver an impressive product."

Reynolds Web Solutions, a division of The Reynolds and Reynolds Company (NYSE:REY), provides design, development, deployment, hosting and support of Web-based software solutions for automotive retailers. Reynolds Web Solutions Executive Stuart Lloyd noted, "Edmunds.com has been a great partner for us by continuing to provide additional data and content for our WebMakerX(R) development platform. This new, innovative imagery will significantly enhance consumers' car-buying experience on the Web."

New products include exterior 360 degree spins, interior 360 degree panoramas and a standardized automotive stock image library. Exterior 360 degree spins and interior 360 degree panoramas are high-tech, interactive, navigable images, enabling viewers to pan, rotate and zoom in to see different angles and focus on details. The stock image library, requested by Edmunds.com data clients, consists of a standardized set of interior and exterior vehicle shots, and provides one standard exterior image of each vehicle depicted in every available color.

"The Web sites of dealers and automakers are natural homes for our enhanced imagery," said Seth Berkowitz, General Manager of Edmunds Information Solutions. "The striking images and multimedia tools present vehicles in a very compelling way."

Working closely with Edmunds.com's well-established editorial staff, the enhanced imagery team of ten full-time photographers and videographers enjoys unsurpassed access to vehicles. This is a major advantage over competitors, who are often incapable of completing assignments for clients.

The Edmunds.com team benefits from another unique edge over competitors that facilitates the company's ability to exceed client expectations: Edmunds.com's enhanced imagery studio is mobile, which allows staffers to go on location for quicker access to the hottest new car models. Edmunds.com uniquely outfitted a new heavy-duty vehicle with all necessary equipment, which tows a portable, custom-constructed turntable. At each location, Edmunds.com erects a domed environment around the turntable in which photographers shoot from three different cameras to capture high-resolution images.

Edmunds.com's investment in enhanced imagery was motivated in part by the development of Inside Line, a high-speed, on-screen car magazine available free at www.insideline.com. The new outlet uses video, photography, interactive rich media and online community in innovative ways to enthrall automotive enthusiasts who have long subscribed to traditional car magazines. Coming to Inside Line soon is the Interactive Vehicle Advisor, a multimedia Web tool that invites users to select "hot spots" on a particular vehicle and view brief video clips describing and reviewing the features related to the hot spots.

About Edmunds.com, Inc.

Edmunds.com is the premier online resource for automotive information. Its comprehensive set of data, tools and services, including Edmunds.com True Market Value(R) pricing, is generated by Edmunds.com Information Solutions and is licensed to third parties. For example, the company supplies content for the auto sections of NYTimes.com, AOL, About.com, iVillage,com and IGN.com, provides weekly data to Automotive News and delivers monthly data reports to Wall Street analysts. Edmunds.com was named "best car research" site by Forbes ASAP, has been selected by consumers as the "most useful Web site" according to every J.D. Power and Associates New Autoshopper.com Study(SM) and was ranked first in the Survey of Car-Shopping Web Sites as reported by The Wall Street Journal. The company is headquartered in Santa Monica, Calif. and maintains a satellite office outside Detroit.

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgibin/prnh/20031009/LATH011ALOGO
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050110/LAM047LOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: Edmunds.com, Inc.

CONTACT: Jeannine Fallon, Exec. Dir. of Corp. Comm. of Edmunds.com,
+1-503-796-0090, +1-310-309-4900, jfallon@edmunds.com

Web site: http://www.insideline.com/

Web site: http://www.edmunds.com/


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