I was surprised yesterday by the fact that one of the Japanese leading newspapers specified for commerce and economy reported on its front page the disapproval of GM's application for a license to sell used motor vehicles in Texas by the Department of Transportation, State of Texas. In Texas, motor vehicle manufacturers are prohibited by a state law to own a dealership within the state. I do not think that GM had not known the state law. So this must be a case in which GM tried to know how the state government react to the internet trade. As GM has completed a huge used vehicle exhibition lot in Houston, some of Japanese papers reported that this was a GM's strategical miscalculation. The local papers there reported that GM would set up a subsidiary or a 49% owned new company immediately and start their business with the least delay from their original schedule. GM named this project as "GM DriverSite" program and scheduled to go nationally after the test sales in Texas.

GM has already started its internet trade of new motor vehicles. It is named as "GM BuyPower." If you have any more interest, please click here. Its homepage will be opened. The left picture shows its top page.

In these two days the news which attracted me the most are the following two reports. The first one is reporting that a research company specialized in internet trade, Gometz, rated the CarPoint as the best for the consumer satisfaction. The second one is a report that number of visitors to CarPoint is the biggest among internet vehicle traders. The research was made by Media Metrix, Ltd. The CarPoint was inaugurated by Bill Bates three years ago. In spite of the latest comer to this market, I expected it would be a probable winner. Because its homepage carries a very attractive top page and its architecture is solid. We should pay attention on their activity not only in U.S.A. but in Japan too.

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