Ford Motor Co.jolted the advertising world in 2000 by announcing

Ford Motor Co.jolted the advertising world in 2000 by announcing that up to $90 million of its advertising will be shifted from magazines and newsprint to Internet ads on sites such as www.carpoint.msn.com.Following this trend are General Motors, American Honda Motor Co.,and Toyota Motor Sales USA.The automakers are going to where customers are looking.As of 2000,some 40 percent of buyers were shopping the Internet for their next vehicle.In one month alone,the top 10 automotive websites tallied more than 7 million visits from potential buyers.The question that arises,then,is how far will Detroit go with its Internet sales initiative? Will automakers reduce the distribution channel by selling directly to new car buyers,eliminating the retail automobile dealership as wecurrently know it? Not likely,at least not in the near future.
At present,about 30 states in the United States have laws prohibiting automakers from owning dealership. In addition, laws in most states do not allow manufacturers to sell vehicles directly to consumers. The Internet,however,has introduced some new tests of the old regulations.So sensitive is this issue that in 2000, Ford had to shut down a website that sold lease vehicles (not new vehicles) after a ruling by a Texas regulatory commission.The closing was ordered even though Houston-area dealers participated in the transactions.The ruling indicates how sensitive regulators are to automakers' experiment in adapting the Internet to their distribution channels.
Aside from legal regulations,it isn't likely that automakers would make effective retailers.Nor do they necessarily want to get away from what they do best-make cars-by diverting their resources into retailing and customer service.Instead, the Net's role on the marketing side of the business involves cultivating closer relationships with customers.If you log on to automakers' websites-www.saturn.com,www.ford.com,www.toyota.com,www. gm.com-you will see tat they assist shoppers with information about new products, service,and pricing.Their main value is in helping buyers to select personalized packages of features on the cars they want.Ford CEO Jacques Nasser expects that the percentage of customers using the Internet to get pre-purchase information will rise to 83 percent in the year 2004.
Meanwhile,website visitors are referred to dealerships so that the retailing is left to those who know best how to do it. This is the area in which Internet new car sals are growing- namely,the use of the Web as a sales tool among dealers:Toyota reports that some dealers are selling up to 25 to 30 percent of their entire volume on the Net.
All of the following more or less show the value of automakers' websites EXCEPT
A、The websites help buyers to select personalized packages of features on the cars they want.
B、The websites provide potential buyers with information about pricing.
C、The websites cultivate closer relationships between manufactures and retailers.
D、The websites are a sles tool among car dealers.
【正确答案】：C
【名师解析】:选项C "The websites cultivate closer relationships between manufactures and retailers" 并不直接反映汽车制造商网站的主要用途。根据题目内容，汽车制造商的网站主要作用是帮助买家选择个性化的汽车功能包（选项A），提供潜在买家关于价格的信息（选项B），以及作为汽车经销商的销售工具，帮助经销商在网上销售汽车（选项D）。虽然网站可能间接促进了制造商、零售商和消费者之间的关系，但这并不是它们的主要价值所在。因此，选项C是唯一没有直接体现汽车制造商网站价值的选项。