Morris Digital Works, a division of Morris Communications Company LLC, has acquired the media services assets of automotive retail software provider The Cobalt Group. The announcement was made today by Morris Communications President William S. Morris IV and Morris Digital Works President Michael R. Romaner.

Morris Digital Works is building a new software solution, mdTransit 1.0, and plans to transition Cobalt’s existing media services customers over to the new platform. MdTransit version 1.0 will provide additional features and functionalities inherent to Morris Digital Works classified advertising technology and will leverage Cobalt vehicle inventory data collection services. As a result, media companies will have an unprecedented automotive solution to extend their automotive portal offerings.

“This acquisition will further establish Morris Digital Works as a cutting-edge force in the industry,” Morris said. “The alliance of resources between MDW and The Cobalt Group will undoubtedly produce innovative solutions within the classified advertising and automotive fields.”

John Holt, president and CEO of the Cobalt Group was also pleased with the acquisition. “The divestiture will enable Cobalt to fully focus on its core business of developing automotive retailing solutions that help manufacturers and dealers increase their profits and operational efficiencies,” Holt said.

"This is an important acquisition that now gives us the opportunity to offer a complete suite of classified and automotive capabilities,” Romaner said.

“MdTransit 1.0 will have features including dealer inventories, expanded search tools, consumer guides, car configurators, expanded automotive content and exportable data capabilities as part of a fully integrated consumer vehicle shopping solution. By implementing the capabilities of mdTransit, MDW will empower media companies to extend their reach into the online automotive space.”

MdTransit 1.0 utilizes the power of a vehicle inventory system to give media companies the ability to provide dealers and customers a local solution that captures their entire automotive marketplace online. A powerful contextual searching component allows site visitors to search thousands of listings with unlimited search variations, returning the most relevant matches. Work is already under way on the next version of mdTransit to enhance the features available in 1.0.

"The next version, mdTransit 2.0, is under rapid development and will take the automotive portal to the next level by increasing functionality and flexibility for the consumer, the advertiser and the media company,” Romaner said. “Version 2.0 will be released late in the first quarter of next year.”