The deal builds on the partnership motors.co.uk has already formed with its DMGT-owned sister group Northcliffe Media to challenge Auto Trader for online market share in Northcliffe territories.
Now Iliffe News and Media, the Midland News Association, and both the Baylis and Berkshire Media Groups, are to become marketing and sales agents for the pure play motoring channel across all of its geographic markets.
The deal has been driven and shaped by the same regional press partnership that has seen three groups coming together to develop a competitive property portal that will offer estate agents a credible local alternative to Rightmove.
Iliffe, Midland News Association and Baylis have commissioned the world’s leading property portal developer to create a property solution that will be offered in white label form to the wider regional press industry.
The three groups also jointly explored online solutions for the motors market that eventually led to the negotiation for this deal. Berkshire Media entered into similar discussions later.
The motors.co.uk network already claims to attract more than 3.3 million potential car buyers every month, to have 3,500 dealers signed up and features around 150,000 used cars for sale. This deal, which is likely to lead to other regional press partnerships, looks set to see this base expand significantly.
David Fordham (pictured), Chief Executive of Iliffe News and Media and President of the Newspaper Society, said: “This is another positive step towards developing a digital business that can help us generate meaningful revenues from these emerging online markets.
“Both the motors and property markets have long been vital to us in print and our work with other independent regional press groups is helping to ensure we extend this strength into the online world.
“The positive spirit of collaboration and co-operation being shown now from within the regional press is both encouraging and vital. We are all seeking to emerge strongly from the serious challenges we are currently facing as an industry.
“We are more likely to succeed in this by coming to together as an industry than we are by continuing to find ways of meeting these challenges alone.”
The property portal, which will offer extensive consumer features as well as a powerful back office offering for estate agents, is due for launch at the beginning of 2010. A number of other independent regional press groups are already showing interest in taking on the solution in white label form.
Andrew Dyson, Managing Director of motors.co.uk, said of the new motors initiative: “We are delighted to have concluded these new partnerships which will see the motors.co.uk footprint extend further across the UK. Our growth and development is based on offering a great deal to buyers and dealers alike and the fact that we continue to add new partners is evidence of the site’s appeal.”
