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Hamid Named vAuto's Senior Director of Digital Marketing Services

Posted on: Tuesday, 22 July 2008, 12:00 CDT

Rafi Hamid, an award-winning Internet marketing executive and e-commerce sales professional, has been named senior director of digital marketing services at vAuto, a high-tech provider of used-car inventory management systems for the nation's 70,000 franchised and independent car dealers.

Hamid previously was director of eCommerce for the Napleton Dealership Groups, where he was responsible for the organization's Internet marketing, including branding, market analysis, brand perception improvement and lead generation. Napleton's three automotive groups have 27 dealership locations with 57 franchises in five states.

Keith Jezek, vAuto's president and CEO, pointed out that Hamid is considered to be one of the nation's foremost retail automotive Internet marketing practitioners.

"It has become increasingly difficult for automotive dealerships to realize their full used-car sales potential without Internet marketing and process expertise," Jezek said. "Hamid's addition to our leadership team will give vAuto clients an extraordinary competitive advantage.

"He was responsible for the development of Napleton's successful Internet marketing processes which were tremendously successful for seven consecutive years on individual, dealership and enterprise levels. He will be much sought after by our rapidly growing customer group."

Featured in "The Master Series - Automotive eCommerce," a series of documentaries on Internet best practices, Hamid is a recent winner of the Association of Automotive Internet Sales Professionals (AAISP) Digital Dealer "Hardest Working Internet Sales Professional" and AAISP Professional Excellence awards.

Prior to his work at Napleton Dealership Groups, he served as group director of e-commerce for the Bob Rohrman Automotive Group with 30 dealership locations and 40 franchises in two states.

Hamid is a graduate of the University of Karachi in Karachi, Pakistan, and attended the MBA program at Keller Graduate School of Management in Chicago. He is married and lives in Lombard, Illinois

Headquartered in the Chicago suburb of Oak Brook, Ill., vAuto maintains a research and development center in Austin, Texas. The company provides the auto industry's only "live, real time" analysis of used-car markets with up-to-the-minute information about used-vehicle supply, demand and pricing tailored to specific dealership market areas.

All six of the nation's highest-volume franchised dealerships by brand, including Chevrolet, Ford, Honda, Nissan, Lincoln-Mercury and Toyota, use stocking, pricing and appraisal strategies supported by vAuto software solutions. Virtually every imported and domestic vehicle brand is represented on the company's customer list, including Acura, Audi, BMW, Hyundai, Infinity, Kia, Lexus, Mercedes and Porsche, as well as all Chrysler and General Motors brands.

More information on vAuto is available on the Internet at www.vAuto.com.

Source: Business Wire

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