Mitsubishi Motor Manufacturing of America Launches eBusiness Relationship with Covisint

    NORMAL, Ill., Aug. 6 Mitsubishi Motor Manufacturing of
America, Inc., (MMMA) is accelerating use of the Internet and related
business-to-business technologies by conducting pilot programs with Covisint,
the e-business exchange for the automotive industry.
    Covisint facilitated two trial online auctions July 17 between MMMA and
11 of its suppliers.
    "One element to becoming profitable over the past two years has been our
commitment to reducing and controlling costs.  Covisint's online auction
process helps us do just that and ensures that our supplier partners are
onboard with pricing that is market-driven," MMMA President and Chief
Operating Officer Rich Gilligan said.
    In addition to providing market-driven pricing, online auctions for
suppliers will significantly increase MMMA's purchasing efficiency,
compressing weeks of bid analysis and negotiations into hours.
    "The total impact on efficiency is enormous," Gilligan said.
    The results of the July 17 auctions were so encouraging that MMMA plans to
pilot other Covisint tools, MMMA Executive Vice President of Procurement &
Supply Keith Lawrence said.  Trials are being planned for Catalog Services,
which is designed to increase the efficiency of MMMA's internal purchasing
activities, and Virtual Project Workspace, a design and development
collaboration technology to help reduce new model development time.
    "We are pleased to share in the recent successes of Mitsubishi Motor
Manufacturing of America and look forward to introducing the company to
Covisint's tools for product development and supply chain management," said
Kevin English, Chairman, President and CEO, Covisint.  "The time and cost
savings realized by Mitsubishi are significant, but not atypical.  We
encourage all in the automotive industry to follow Mitsubishi's lead and take
our suite of products for a spin."

    Mitsubishi Motor Manufacturing of America, Inc., which manufactured its
first vehicle in 1988, currently produces five models: Mitsubishi Eclipse,
Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder convertible, Mitsubishi Galant, Chrysler Sebring
coupe and Dodge Stratus coupe.  In 2003, MMMA will begin production of
Mitsubishi's next generation sport utility vehicle, the successor to the
Montero Sport.  Annually, MMMA spends nearly $2 billion on production parts
from approximately 250 North American suppliers.

    Covisint, LLC is a global, independent e-business exchange providing the
automotive industry with leading collaborative product development,
procurement and supply chain tools that give its customers the ability to
reduce costs and bring efficiencies to their business operations.  Covisint
was developed by DaimlerChrysler, Ford, General Motors, Nissan, Renault,
Commerce One and Oracle.  Since its inception, PSA Peugeot Citroen has also
joined the initiative.  Covisint is located in Southfield, Michigan.  Covisint
Europe B.V. is headquartered in Amsterdam.  Covisint Japan K.K. is
headquartered in Tokyo.  For more information about Covisint, visit
http://www.covisint.com.