Cars.com Inc. announced an agreement to convert tronc's eight affiliate markets into Cars.com's direct retail channel, effective February 1, 2018. The converting markets include Los Angeles and Chicago, the nation's second and new vehicle sales in 2017, according to Cars.com's data, which is aligned with Nielsen's household DMA statistics. More than 2,000 dealer customers will convert from tronc's affiliate network into Cars.com's direct sales channel. Upon conversion, tronc's sales and support teams will also join Cars.com, facilitating an accelerated and seamless transition of the markets and the opportunity for Cars.com to directly offer its full suite of digital solutions for the benefit of dealer customers.