Forrester Introduces Automotive e-Business Industry Research 11/10/2000 Forrester Research has launched a new service, Automotive Market Focus, which will concentrate on the e-business opportunities and challenges facing manufacturers, suppliers, and dealers that compete in this massive global industry. According to Christopher Mines, group director at Forrester, "The shift to eBusiness is the latest wave of change in the automotive industry, intensifying companies' need for strategic direction and research. Forrester's eBusiness expertise will enable participants throughout the auto value chain to anticipate and profit from the transforming effects of the Internet. In turn, Forrester will help industry players improve the consumer experience of buying, owning, and driving cars." Forrester's Automotive Market Focus research will explore how B2B e-marketplaces will transform the industry's extensive supply chain and where these changes will first take place. The expanded auto research will also examine how the automotive industry will be affected by rapid growth in B2C e-commerce, as well as the ways in which automotive manufacturers will create online relationships with customers. "Given disruptive changes to conducting business over the Internet, the world's largest manufacturing industry clearly faces huge challenges and opportunities in B2B and B2C eCommerce," added Baba Shetty, senior analyst at Forrester. "Forrester's research will advise manufacturers, suppliers, and dealers on how to bring customer and supplier relationships online, as well as how to implement new Internet-based business practices."