Covisint, the trade exchange backed by several major car manufacturers including Ford, DaimlerChrysler and General Motors, is on the verge of signing deals with other commodity-based exchanges. Kevin English, Covisint’s chief executive, recently admitted that suppliers were still wary of joining the marketplace, which wants to capture a big piece of its members’ £180 billion annual procurement spend. But he put his faith in next-generation software to make the jump easier.