Car sales may be slowing down, but manufacturers and dealers are spending more online. The automotive industry will spend more because they know how much influence the Internet has on new buyers.

As Reported by eMarketer, this year’s online spending will increase over 21% from last year amounting to almost 3 billion dollars. The expectation is that they will spend over 5 billion dollars by 2012.

Scott Keogh of Audi told eMarketer “We more than doubled our online ad budget year-over-year in 2007 and it looks like we’ll double it again in 2008.”

It’s no wonder for savvy car sellers. Consultant Capgemini research indicates that 80% of consumers go to the Internet at least once during they car-buying cycle. They add that recommendations form family and friends are being replace in importance by consumer reviews on the web. They make sense because so many more reviews can add to credibility.

Newspapers can simply not compete with up-to-date and complete information offered online. Additional reasons the web has captured the car buyer:

Dealers can use the Internet effectively to attract customers as well. Specialized ad placement for specific geographic locations can keep budgets targeted to cities and regions. LocalTargetMarketing, a service of RedFusion Media is a system for pay-per-view advertising that can be geo-located. Additional display ads are effective in regional websites such as InlandEmpire.US.