Covisint Europe has officially opened for business: The company has been registered
as Covisint Europe B.V. in the Amsterdam Trade Register. It will operate as a
subsidiary of Covisint, L.L.C., the joint venture of DaimlerChrysler, Ford, General
Motors, Nissan, Renault, Commerce One and Oracle. The headquarters staff of Covisint
Europe B.V. will be relocating to the Dutch capital during the next few weeks.
"With the transformation of our project team into a company, we have taken
a crucial step forward,” said Lars Olrik, managing director, Covisint Europe.
"We can now enter into contracts with clients and appoint staff.”
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In the coming weeks, some of Covisint Europe’s approximately 60 staff members
will move to their new headquarters in Amsterdam.
The offices will be located in the Schiphol-Rijk Business Park. Offices in
Stuttgart and Paris will be maintained for customer liaison. "The selection
of the Amsterdam location emphasises our independence as an e-Business platform
supplier for the automotive industry. The city also fulfils Covisint’s requirement
for global business management,” said Olrik.
"Formally establishing our European presence underscores our global vision
and reinforces our stated mission to connect the automotive industry,” said
Kevin W. English, Chairman, CEO and president, Covisint, L.L.C. "Having a strong
European foothold is critical to our future success.”
Covisint was set up in February 2000 by Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp.
and DaimlerChrysler AG with the aim of helping auto makers cut millions in costs
by collaborating with their partners and suppliers over the Web.
But since then, the exchange has been criticised for not getting off the ground
fast enough.
A tiny fraction of the three founders’ $US740 million in combined annual spending
has been put through the exchange and critics say it will be a long time before
any of the million-dollar plus savings are actually realised.
Nevertheless, Covisint continues to take the highest profile role in the automotive
exchange area and its position as the dominant online trade exchange has been
strengthened as other potential rivals – most notably the so-called S8 group
of tier 1 suppliers – have concluded talks without any formal exchange structure
being agreed.
