Mercedes-Benz and ATX Group have announced that they will end their nearly decade-old partnership in Nov. 2009. ATX currently provides service for all telematics-equipped Mercedes-Benz vehicles. The company will continue to provide service to all new, telematics-equipped vehicles in North America for the next two years, as well as ongoing service to all Mercedes-Benz subscribers active as of November 2009. "We strongly believe that telematics services delivered into the vehicle should be customized to reflect an extension of the automaker's brand experience and to serve the unique needs of the vehicle owner," says ATX President and CEO Steve Millstein. "We've learned a lot from the thousands of daily interactions we've had for nearly a decade while serving Mercedes-Benz customers. That experience has prepared us well as the market for mobile connectivity expands." Over the next five years ATX will continue to experience growth, projecting an annual compounded growth rate of over 30 percent. ATX also announced earlier in 2007 its extension of services to other mobile devices, such as personal navigation devices and cell phones, designed to serve the automobile after-market and other mobile market segments. ATX also is embarking on an aggressive expansion of services in the European and Asian markets. "We take great pride in the significant achievements our relationship with Mercedes-Benz USA has produced, particularly in the area of customer satisfaction and loyalty, where we've consistently led the industry in terms of customer renewals of telematics service," Millstein says. Millstein noted that a key to that success had been the seamless integration between ATX's systems and Response Center personnel with the Mercedes-Benz roadside assistance program and Mercedes-Benz's Customer Care Center. The ATX and Mercedes-Benz relationship began in 1999 when the Mercedes- Benz Tele Aid program became standard on all Model Year 2000 S Class vehicles sold in the U.S., and within a year became standard on almost all other Mercedes-Benz models. Since that introduction, ATX has teamed with Mercedes- Benz to drive the introduction of many technological advances and innovative services, including:
"Mercedes-Benz and ATX have simply chosen to move in different directions with different strategies in the telematics markets, each believing that their strategy best serves its own markets. That doesn't mean our interests won't converge in other markets or at some point in the future," Millstein concludes. "We are extremely grateful to Mercedes-Benz for trusting us with their customers." For more information about ATX, visit the company's Web site. |
