Dealer.com, which Cox acquired when it bought Dealertrack in 2015, can leverage other Cox brands, including Autotrader and Kelley Blue Book, for its website clients, said Wayne Pastore, Dealer.com general manager.
Pastore said Dealer.com hosted about 400 secondary websites for GM dealerships.
DealerOn, in Rockville, Md., said about 100 of its 3,000-plus dealership customers use it for secondary websites for GM stores. Mike Martinez, chief revenue officer, touted DealerOn's "deep and single-minded focus" on converting website traffic to sales.
That means focusing on what it does best — websites, SEO and search-engine marketing — while leaving digital retailing tools to other providers, Martinez said.
Dealer.com and Dealer On declined to disclose how many additional dealerships they're targeting. Dealer Inspire aims to initially attract 1,250 GM dealerships, including the roughly 150 that already use Dealer Inspire for a secondary website, CEO Joe Chura said.
Dealer Inspire, which Cars.com bought last year, is promoting its online chat and digital retailing tools that integrate with Cars.com's audience data, Chura said.
The three new entrants intend to siphon some of CDK's market share. CDK Global, through its predecessor companies, has been GM's exclusive provider since 2004, when GM hired the former Cobalt Group to manage dealership websites, according to the company.
CDK touts its years of experience working with GM as an advantage, along with continuity that will minimize disruption for dealers. CDK also says it will have more flexibility to design packages for dealers than in the past.