Top executives from the world's largest and most influential automobile companies will gather in Singapore at the EyeForAuto Asia 2001 conference later this month to discuss how the Internet is affecting the Asian automotive industry

Top executives from the world's largest and most influential automobile companies will gather in Singapore at the EyeForAuto Asia 2001 conference later this month to discuss how the Internet is affecting the Asian automotive industry and what companies must do to fully embrace the medium. Organizers of the conference say that executives from General Motors, Ford, Nissan Motors, Toyota, Hyundai, Volvo, Citroen and Covisint, the online B2B automotive marketplace, will attend the three-day conference at the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore February 20th through February 22nd. The participants will discuss specific topics such as CRM, supply chain management and telematics, as well as broader issues affecting the Asian auto industry. Keynote speakers include Akio Toyoda, a member of the Toyota board of directors; John Papachristou, head of global e-business for Nissan Motors; Richard Hell, head of Asian technology management for DaimlerChrysler and Jung-Kook Paeng, senior vice president and CIO of Hyundai and Kia Motor Company. The conference comes at a time when auto manufacturers are still hesitant about committing to the Internet in a substantive way. Covisint, for example, has yet to appoint a chief executive and is still waiting in the wings to begin operations. Formed last year by General Motors, Ford, DaimlerChrysler, and later Nissan and Renault, the online marketplace has met with some resistance from the auto manufacturers' suppliers, who fear that the stated aim of the marketplace -- to reduce costs -- is really an effort to drive down their prices. Consulting giant KPMG said in a report released late last month that Covisint's participants must do a better job of explaining the marketplace's benefits to suppliers if they hope to succeed.