In an industry long dominated by legacy on-premise systems, Tekion stands out by reimagining automotive retail software from the ground up. Founded in 2016 by former Tesla CIO Jay Vijayan, the company has built a fully cloud-native platform Automotive Retail Cloud (ARC)—that transforms dealership operations and customer experiences through embedded AI, digital retail, and real-time analytics .
A Unified Platform: Automotive Retail Cloud (ARC)
Tekion’s ARC platform combines every critical dealership function—sales, service, parts, finance, CRM, and digital retail—into one unified cloud system . It’s built for smooth workflows:
AI-enhanced dealer and consumer experiences with tools like Tekion Pay, native CRM, and embedded digital retail features .
Digital Service Experience offers mobile-first inspection media, work approvals, and online payments—making service transparent and efficient .
Advanced Analytics and NLP empower real-time visibility, forecasting, and natural‑language queries such as “How many cars did we sell today?” .
Alongside these capabilities, Tekion includes Tekion Pay, a Stripe-powered embedded payment service used by 90% of its customers, enabling frictionless payments, reconciliation, credit card surcharging, and buy-now-pay-later options like Affirm—leading to up to 23% fewer aged receivables and a 40–60% boost in cart size on deals using Affirm .
Intelligent Automation: Tekion AI & AI Agents
Tekion embeds intelligence directly into its platform via Tekion AI, a model‑agnostic engine combining ML, NLP, computer vision, and generative AI (GPT) .
Smart Communication, Tekion’s first GPT-enabled feature, summarizes email and text interactions, suggests next steps, and drafts personalized responses—helping dealers handle 75% of sales emails using AI in a single month. Customers report up to 41% faster response times for leads.
AI Agent for Service, the platform’s first autonomous agent, orchestrates fixed ops workflows end-to-end—from repair recommendations to approvals, status updates, and upsell interactions—improving efficiency and service quality .
Expanding Beyond Dealerships: Automotive Enterprise Cloud (AEC)
Tekion extends its cloud-native arch behind OEMs through Automotive Enterprise Cloud (AEC), launched in March 2022 . AEC seamlessly connects consumers from OEM brand websites to local dealerships through:
An interactive vehicle configurator that aligns with dealer inventory
Online checkout workflows with payment, e-signature, and delivery scheduling capabilities
A digital dealer portal for lead capture, appointment scheduling, and real-time analytics across the consumer journey .
High Velocity Innovation: 3,000+ Features in a Year
Innovation isn’t theoretical at Tekion—it's a constant. In 2024 alone, the company rolled out over 3,000 features and enhancements, averaging nearly one per day, all inspired by dealer feedback and delivered with no downtime or disruptive upgrades .
Real-World Feedback: Enthusiasm & Cautions
Dealership staff and users frequently note Tekion’s ease of use and modern interface, especially compared to legacy platforms:
"Tekion is infinitely better than CDK. It’s app based… incredibly easy to use..."
"Everything is cloud and documents are digital"
Yet others highlight friction points, especially among legacy users:
"It’s been with it since March of 2024... I have had CDK… I would rather have CDK now compared to Tekion"
"Weekly outages and updates don't affect you? We lost 1000's from being left twisting in the wind..."
Common concerns include support delays, billing complexities, accounting errors, slow parts inventory accuracy, and onboarding frustrations—especially for large dealership groups or older process workflows .
Company Overview & Market Influence
Tekion is headquartered in Pleasanton, California, with engineering centers in Bengaluru and Chennai, India, and employs over 2,500 professionals globally . By mid‑2024, the company had raised around US $640 million and hit a valuation above $4 billion after a $200 million funding round .
Tekion supports integration with 40+ OEM brands, including GM, Hyundai, Honda, Toyota, Ford, and Stellantis partners—processing billions in retail transactions across millions of vehicles and parts sales .
Why Tekion Is Next‑Gen
Cloud-native innovation: Tekion avoids legacy drag, delivering instant updates, scalable infrastructure, and modern browser/mobile access.
End-to-end automation: Tekion AI and autonomous agents perform tasks previously handled manually—boosting productivity and reducing error.
Unified ecosystem: No more fragmented tools—sales, service, CRM, finance, parts, and OEM integration come together in one platform.
Continuous evolution: With thousands of enhancements, Tekion listens and rapidly adapts to dealer needs.
Modern security & compliance: ISO and SOC II compliance, encrypted workflows, and enterprise-grade infrastructure ensure data safety.
OEM and dealer synergy: AEC connects brand experiences and local retail seamlessly, from online configurators to vehicle delivery.
Tekion represents a bold reimagining of automotive retail software built for the cloud, powered by AI, and designed to unify OEMs, dealers, and consumers within a single, intelligent platform. With ARC, AEC, Tekion Pay, embedded AI Agents, and real‑time analytics, Tekion is delivering modern experiences long overdue in the auto industry.
