Standards for Technology in Automotive Retail has published its first sales lead application programming interface standard for the automotive industry.

The IT standards organization said the sales lead API was built to standardize sales lead data within auto retail, facilitating seamless communication between manufacturers, dealers and related service providers.

The sales lead API is a part of STAR’s larger initiative to create a comprehensive domain model that maps the entire retail automotive sales process. STAR’s members — including dealers, OEMs and automotive technology providers — all collaborate in the creation of each new API.

STAR chairman JP Garvey, dealer principal of Garvey Auto Group, called the new API “an exciting addition to STAR’s growing standards library” and said it shows the organization “has moved past just a data storage standard and is now leading the way in integration.”

In a news release, STAR said its sales lead API focuses on lead management, standardized data fields and ongoing integration support.

The lead management component enables the creation, retrieval, updating and deletion of all sales lead information to ensure a consistent exchange of data across various technology platforms. Standardized data fields establish a common data structure for customer information, vehicle details and lead status, promoting uniformity and reducing integration complexities throughout the sales process.

The API provides strategic integration support with various DMS and CRM tools to enhance interoperability in the entire auto sales ecosystem.

STAR said organizations using its sales lead API can create new sales leads, retrieve details of any specific lead, update information for existing leads, remove a lead from the system or curate a list of all sales leads using optional query parameters such as status or creation date.

STAR’s sales lead API can be downloaded free here.