Founded in 2016 by ex‑Tesla CIO Jay Vijayan, Tekion is redefining automotive retail technology through its cloud‑native, unified platform. With headquarters in Pleasanton, California, and major development centers in Bengaluru and Chennai, Tekion’s technology now enables dealerships, OEMs, and consumers across North America, Europe, and Asia to operate in a fully integrated digital ecosystem.

ARC: The Automotive Retail Cloud

The cornerstone of Tekion’s offering is the Automotive Retail Cloud (ARC) a modern, mobile‑first Dealer Management System (DMS) that replaces disconnected legacy tools with one cohesive platform. ARC integrates Sales, Service, Parts, Accounting, CRM, Payments, Digital Retail, and Analytics in a browser‑ and app‑based environment.

• Sales & F&I workflows allow real-time inventory lookups, AI‑powered finance recommendations, digital signatures, and remote sales closure on any device.

• Service & Parts enable online appointment booking, mobile inspections, real-time parts inventory, AI‑driven upsell suggestions, and streamlined workflow management.

• Accounting & Tekion Pay offer PCI‑compliant payments—including BNPL and surcharging—real‑time reconciliation, AR tracking, and automated financial workflows.

ARC eliminates the need for local servers, supports automatic platform upgrades, and enables seamless access from any device—all while consolidating cross‑departmental data and operations.

Advanced Analytics: Insight at Your Fingertips

Introduced within ARC, Advanced Analytics delivers real‑time dashboards across operational areas—sales, service, finance, parts, and marketing. Features include:

• One‑click root cause analysis for KPI anomalies.

• Predictive forecasting aligned with historical trends and business targets.

• Mobile alerting and natural language query support (“How many units sold today?”).

• Consolidated views across multi‑location dealer groups without custom report dependencies .

This shifts dealerships from slow, manual reporting toward rapid insights and proactive decision‑making.

Tekion AI: Smart Communication & AI Agents

In 2023, Tekion launched its multimodal AI Engine, combining ML, NLP, computer vision, and GPT models to embed intelligence directly into workflow .

Smart Communication (GPT‑Powered CRM)

This feature analyzes agent–customer messages to summarize conversations and generate personalized replies. One dealership deployed it in 75% of its sales emails, achieving 30–45 minutes saved per agent per day and a 41% increase in lead response velocity.

🛠 AI Agent for Service

Launched in early 2025, this agent automates fixed ops—from diagnosis to approvals, scheduling, and customer notifications. Featured in the AI Breakthrough Awards as “Personalized AI Agent Solution of the Year,” it enables staff to focus on high-value tasks while improving service efficiency and trust.

Tekion is expanding AI Agents to cover Sales, Parts, Marketing, and CRM workflows later in 2025.

Digital Retail & Automotive Enterprise Cloud (AEC)

Digital Retail

Part of the ARC ecosystem, Digital Retail offers digital vehicle discovery, configuration, deal negotiation, e‑signing, secure payment, and delivery scheduling—online or in-store. It merges e‑commerce convenience with dealership operational control.

Automotive Enterprise Cloud (AEC)

AEC empowers OEMs with brand-controlled configurators, live inventory visibility, trade‑in logic, pricing consistency, and analytics dashboards. Integrated with ARC, it ensures a consistent retail experience from consumer browsing to dealer execution.

Real-World Dealer Feedback

Tekion’s modern architecture, fast innovation cadence, and AI‑powered automation have earned strong support—particularly among service advisors and sales teams:

“Tekion is infinitely better than CDK. It’s cloud‑based, mobile first, and intuitive—even for tech‑new team members.”
“In one month alone they released 24 enhancements… you can adopt or skip them at will.”

However, parts departments and legacy system converts occasionally report friction:

“Inventory logic is confusing… repair orders take longer… and support was slower during rollout.”
“It’s slow in parts functions—tasks that should take two steps take seven.”

These issues mostly stem from migrating without redesigning processes and early product maturity. Many have improved significantly as workflows stabilized and tool training scaled.

Funding, Scale & Market Position

• Funding Trajectory: $150M Series C (2020), $250M Series D (2021) at ~$3.5B valuation, and $200M in mid‑2024 pushing company value above $4B—total funding exceeding $640M.

• Business Growth: Over 2,500 employees, global operation, and annual revenue north of $100M in 2023.

• Partnerships & Clients: Hyundai Auto Canada and Genesis dealers adopted ARC for DMS; pilots with GM, Acura, Porsche, and other OEMs onboarding AEC implementations.

Why Tekion Is Leading the Evolution

Looking Ahead: Tekion’s Roadmap

Tekion plans to:

• Roll out AI Agents into Sales, Parts, CRM, Accounting, and Marketing.

• Scale AEC across more OEMs, particularly in EV and digital-first brands.

• Expand regionally (Europe, India, Asia-Pacific) with localized compliance and support.

• Prioritize sustainable growth and operational profitability over immediate IPO.

Tekion has evolved from a next-gen DMS concept into a strategic platform for transforming automotive retail. By blending cloud-native infrastructure, real-time analytics, AI-driven automation, and OEM integration, Tekion offers operational efficiency, customer satisfaction, and future‑proof scaling.

While initial challenges are normal during digital transformation, dealers and OEMs leveraging ARC, AEC, and AI Agents are gaining sharper margins, faster workflows, and stronger consumer trust.