FleetScape.com, the electronic marketplace for truck parts, has shut down without ever actually opening for business. The Fleetscape.com web site is no longer available, no one answers the phone and, according to a web industry publication, nine full-time employees are out of work.

Fleetscape.com debuted on the public stage in a March news conference led by Larry Yost, Chairman and CEO of Meritor Automotive, the Troy, Mich., truck parts maker. Meritor was to be the truck industry partner in the venture then called FleetWorks.com, an independent company headed by former Meritor executive Susan Kampe.
However, Meritor was stung by the reaction of some distributors who feared the Internet-based operation would cut into their business. Less than a month after the initial press conference, Meritor announced it had backed out of the venture. That left two backers, Accel Partners, a Silicon Valley venture capital company, and Gen3 Partners, a Boston-based technology company, who decided to go forward with Kampe heading the venture. They renamed the company FleetScape.com but were unable to find another partner willing to kick in for the $6 million needed to take the company live.
Kampe told TheStandard.com that investors liked the FleetScape.com business plan. "But the market for truck parts isn't that big - only $24 billion - and trucking just wasn't sexy enough," she said.