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Priceline.com announced on December 3 the top-ten selling vehicles purchased through its Web site in November. The top-ten includes eight Japanese makes (four of Honda, three of Toyota and one of Nissan.) The others are one make of VW and one of Ford.
Ms. Marryan Keller, president of Priceline.com's Automotive Services group, said " Our recent alliance with Ford is starting to show dividends as the Ford Explorer debuts on this month's list at number 10. While the relationship is currently limited to Florida, we are driving traffic to Ford's Web site as Floridians are naming their own price for Fords by accessing priceline.com through Ford.com" The increase of American vehicle transaction through Priceline.com is very important for them, I think. They seem to be successful on the trade of airline tickets and hotel rooms with joint investors like Soros. Their stock price seemed to reach the bottom, at about one third of its highest a few months ago. As for automotive trade, they are not yet getting along, I presume. Their today's press has no word for sales volume.
The CarPoint Japan began their operation from November. The company seems to have information resources covering all Japanese manufacturers. The CarPoint Japan said in October it had signed a comprehensive tie-up with Nissan Motors, providing intermediary sales as well as advisory services to Nissan dealerships in Japan. It said Mitsubishi Motors, Mazda, Subaru-maker Fuji Heavy, Ford Japan and Citroen also agreed to participate exclusively in CarPoint, while BMW will take part but not on an exclusive basis. But Nissan seems to be an only manufacturer through today which signed agreement with it.
The CarPoint in U.S.A. has been very active. They are presenting interesting information on their homepage which we cannot get through others. For example, it reported a Top Ten list of vehicles reported stolen compiled by the National Insurance Crime Bureau. The current winner is the Honda Accord. The list has two vehicles of every manufacturer, Honda, Toyota, Ford, GM and Daimler Chrysler.
The bottom picture of Mt. Fuji was taken today just after sunset.
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