It has been a few months since I posted my lighthearted Cox Automotive home strategy game. In that time, four new projects have been announced linking members of the conglomerate.
- Fairly obvious tie up between Dealer.com and Autotrader, but also including KBB.
- Unification of Dealer.com’s advertising technology, and OEM and advertising partnerships, with Haystak’s customer service model.
- Plan to fuse Service Pro with Xtime. As a former developer, I wonder how they “fuse” software. It sounds dangerous.
- Bring together Dealertrack and Dealer.com with MakeMyDeal, the innovative online deal-making platform, to deliver a powerful and comprehensive Digital Retailing solution.
I am still watching for some extension of auction functionality into the used-car department, maybe leveraging vAuto. No word yet on the development of COXML.
Virag Consulting 