Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes-Benz (online)

In a reverse auction that took place last week, this founding member of Covisint, the online exchange for the car industry jointly established with Ford, GM, Renault and others, made orders worth E3.5bn for two of its future product lines.

So it's only a very small drop in a very big ocean in terms of what the car industry in total is worth, but it's good news. And, although profitable e-marketplaces are still non-existent, this trend is in keeping with industry analysts' predictions.

Last week's auction represents quite a large hunk of the total forecast B2B internet trade in Europe for the car industry in 2001. Analysts suggest it is in the range of seven per cent - quite an achievement for an exchange that up until last month didn't even have a CEO.

And maybe it's more than a coincidence that the newbie CEO, Kevin English, has such a strong grounding in investment banking. Could it be that the board is already plotting an IPO?

Back in the autumn, Covisint emerged victorious from a landmark Federal Trade Commission investigation and commenced trading. There was never any doubt that the marketplace would be successful. It was just a question of time.

Whether other exchanges can match this performance and whether suppliers to the exchange are reaping the rewards are other matters.