Southfield Company Taking Over Yahoo Autos

SOUTHFIELD -- Yahoo has outsourced the technology platform of Yahoo Autos to Detroit Trading Co., the companies announced Thursday afternoon.

The Southfield company will handle all automotive inventory inquiries and new car quote requests that are submitted through the Yahoo Autos portal, distributing them to its network of dealerships, retailers and automakers.

This partnership provides over 15 million Yahoo Autos users the ability to browse over one million new and used vehicles located in every available market across the country, call dealerships directly or submit a Web inquiry to gather more information on the specific vehicle in inventory they're interested in, and receive new car price quotes from up to five local dealers.

Detroit Trading, founded in 2004, had 19 employees as of April. Its CEO is Don Campbell, whose son, Mark, founded the pioneering auto retail Web site Stoneage.com  -- the owner of the prized Web address car.com -- which was sold in 2004 for $48 million to Autobytel Inc.

Detroit Trading takes Internet leads and sells them to car dealerships, wholesalers and manufacturers. It has deals with more than 12,000 dealer customers and 24 manufacturers -- now, including Yahoo Autos.

Yahoo Autos has more than 12 million monthly visitors in the United States.

In this new role, Detroit Trading will be responsible for aggregating millions of new and used vehicle listings in a feed from thousands of dealers across the United States onto Yahoo Autos. This uniform feed will allow consumers to connect directly to dealerships by phone or by submitting a Web form.

In addition, Detroit Trading will be responsible for the distribution of consumers' new car quote requests generated using Yahoo Autos enhanced new car price quote process, which allows consumers to receive pricing from up to five local dealers.

Detroit Trading was a member of the 2012 class of Edward Lowe Foundation "Michigan 50 Companies to Watch" and was listed among the 2011 Inc. 5000 Fastest-Growing Private Companies in the United States.

Pete Bonner, co-founder and executive vice president of Detroit Trading, said Yahoo approached his company "with this exciting opportunity to showcase our technology and extensive network of vehicle inventory. With this relationship, we are able to help connect the more than 12 million monthly unique visitors on Yahoo Autos to our network of dealers, original equipment manufacturers and automotive partners."

More at www.detroittrading.com.