Headquarters Expansion for vAuto in Oak Brook.

OAK BROOK, Ill. -- Illinois-based vAuto has moved to a new, 10,000-square-foot headquarters office location in the Chicago suburb of Oak Brook.

The fastest-growing provider of high-tech used-car inventory management systems for the nation's more than 70,000 franchised and independent car dealers, vAuto's customer base has more than quadrupled in size over the past 18 months.

The company expects to more than triple its headquarters staff within the next two years, according to President and CEO Keith Jezek.

"We plan to add a substantial number of new positions at our Oak Brook offices and at our Austin-based research-and-development center in order to keep pace with a projected triple-digit increase in annual sales over the next several years," Jezek said.

He noted that the company also is further strengthening its senior management team. Recent additions to vAuto's executive staff include:

* Bill Nunan, senior vice president - Operations, with 18 years of technology and automotive retail-solutions experience at companies such as Reynolds and Reynolds,

* Rafi Hamid, senior director of Digital Marketing Services, an award-winning, Internet marketing executive and e-commerce sales professional, previously with Napleton Dealership Groups, and

* Steve Chastain, director of marketing, who previously was responsible for marketing, product development and strategic planning at industrial software provider Starthis.

Jezek pointed out that the company receives more than 500 unsolicited calls per month from dealerships interested in its web-based solutions for used cars since introducing a new suite of inventory-management tools last February at the National Automobile Dealers Association convention in San Francisco.

"Our products provide dealers with invaluable tools to successfully manage their used car and light truck inventories," he said. "Up-to-the-minute information on used-vehicle sales trends is critically important in today's rapidly changing, Internet-based marketplace."

Collecting data on literally millions of pre-owned vehicles in the United States on a daily basis, vAuto provides its customers with critically important supply-and-demand information for their specific market area.

"In the face of rapidly declining industry sales and extreme fluctuations in fuel prices, this type of information is essential for dealers to profitably stock and price their used-vehicle inventories," Jezek explained. "Pre-owned vehicle sales account for more than 30 percent of all franchised dealership profits. With more than $90 billion tied up in used-car inventories, it's vitally important for dealers to know exactly how to stock and price their vehicles."

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

The new vAuto headquarters is located at 2221 Camden Court in Oak Brook, Illinois.

The company soon will have positions available in account management, customer service, training and marketing at its new headquarters, as well as openings for software developers and database administrators at vAuto's research-and-development Center in Austin, Texas. Further information about career opportunities can be found under "Careers" in the "About Us" section of the company's website, www.vauto.com.