Kia Motors America Embraces Live Chat

CONTACT AT ONCE! AND KIA MOTORS AMERICA ENABLE 500TH DEALERSHIP WITH ADVANCED DEALER CHAT SOLUTION

More than 100 dealers per month added since Mid-September.

Contact At Once! (Auto Dealer Chat), the leading dealer chat provider to the automotive industry, and Kia Motors America (KMA) (Kia) today announced the achievement of a milestone -- enablement of the 500th Kia dealership with dealer-to-buyer chat capabilities, which allows for a real-time personal communication between a prospective Kia customer and a Kia dealership sales representative. Kia holds the distinction of being the first OEM to define and implement a comprehensive chat strategy for its dealer network. Kia uses chat to increase by 25 percent the number of online car shoppers that schedule appointments with dealerships while visiting tier one, tier two, and tier three websites as well as third party automotive websites.

"Utilizing Contact At Once! with 500 Kia dealerships speaks to KMA's commitment to customer satisfaction and is a reflection of the value the Kia brand provides consumers with a host of standard technology, safety, and convenience features in all its vehicles," said Michael Sprague, vice president of marketing & communications, KMA. "The use of dealer-to-buyer chat capabilities provides Kia dealers another way to connect with new, younger, more online oriented and more affluent customers who have been taking an interest in our attractive, fuel-efficient and fun-to-drive vehicles such as the Optima, Sorento and Soul."

In November 2011 alone, each Kia dealer accepted an average of 93 inbound chat requests from online shoppers. This number includes chats that originated on Kia.com, regional Kia sites, as well as shoppers on dealership-specific websites.

"Kia sustained record growth in 2011 and we have been honored to provide the brand with enabling technology," said John Hanger, CEO, Contact At Once! "It has been rewarding to see more car shoppers connecting with Kia as the brand deployed our solution."

The Contact At Once! chat solution is in use in thousands of dealerships across North America. Shoppers can connect with dealers via icons or photo-enhanced greetings placed on OEM and dealer websites as they navigate the Internet. The Contact At Once! dealer chat solution is centered on real-time personal communication between a car shopper and a dealership sales person.

Once added, Contact At Once! software displays a presence-aware chat icon whenever a dealership representative is online and available. Dealers can easily answer chat requests anytime from their laptops or PCs, or via their smartphones and mobile devices using a free mobile chat app provided by Contact At Once!

KMA affiliated dealerships interested in gaining the most out of dealer chat on their websites should visit Auto Dealer Chat Schedule to request a demonstration.

About Contact At Once! Contact At Once! is the leading automotive chat software provider and operator of the industry's only dealer chat network connecting more than 9,000 auto dealers with the websites car shoppers visit most often. Adding Contact At Once! dealer chat software to a website typically increases a dealership's sales conversations by at least 25 percent. Named to the Inc. 500 as one of America's fastest growing businesses, Contact At Once! is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. For more information about the company's auto dealer chat product, please visit: Auto Dealer Chat.

About Kia Motors America Kia Motors America is the marketing and distribution arm of Kia Motors Corporation based in Seoul, South Korea. KMA offers a complete line of vehicles through more than 755 dealers throughout the United States and serves as the "Official Automotive Partner of the NBA." In 2011, KMA recorded its best-ever annual sales total and became one of the fastest growing car companies in the U.S. Kia is poised to continue its momentum and will continue to build the brand through design innovation, quality, value, advanced safety features and new technologies.