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Tekion Automotive Retail Cloud

Tekion Automotive Retail Cloud at a glance
VendorTekion Corp.
HeadquartersPleasanton, California
OwnershipVenture-backed private company; investors include Index Ventures, Advent International, General Motors, Hyundai, BMW i Ventures, and Exor
DeploymentCloud-native SaaS
Target marketFranchise auto dealerships and dealer groups; OEMs via Automotive Enterprise Cloud
IndustriesAutomotive retail
PricingNot published; quoted per dealership and module
Websitetekion.com

The short version

Tekion sells Automotive Retail Cloud (ARC), a cloud-native dealership management system. One platform carries sales desking, finance and insurance, service, parts, dealership accounting, payroll, and CRM. The vendor reports more than 3,000 dealerships on it, and the pitch is aimed squarely at CDK Global and Reynolds and Reynolds. For a dealership, the DMS occupies the seat that an ERP system occupies in other industries, which is the reason a DMS appears in this directory at all.

The company behind it

Jay Vijayan, previously CIO at Tesla, founded Tekion in 2016 together with co-founder and COO Guru Sankararaman. Headquarters are in Pleasanton, California. The funding history is unusual for dealership software: 200 million dollars of growth capital in 2024 at a valuation above 4 billion dollars, with Index Ventures, Advent International, Durable Capital, and Alkeon on the financial side and General Motors, Hyundai, BMW i Ventures, and Exor as strategic backers. Two further products sit beside the dealer-facing ARC. Automotive Enterprise Cloud serves manufacturers, with General Motors as the flagship deployment, and Automotive Partner Cloud acts as the integration layer, counting more than 250 connected partners.

Modules and capabilities

The DMS core is complete: vehicle inventory, deal structuring, finance and insurance, dealership accounting and payroll, parts management, and repair-order workflows in the service department. Around that core sit a native CRM, digital retail experiences that hand online shoppers over to in-store deals, service scheduling, embedded payments through Tekion Pay, and analytics. AI is where the company spends visibly. Service Scheduler AI, Service Advisor AI, and Technician AI automate scheduling, write-ups, and workshop tasks.

Who buys it

US franchise dealerships, from single rooftops to large dealer groups. OEM certifications span roughly 50 brands globally. Manufacturers are the second audience, using Automotive Enterprise Cloud for retail programs and data. Everything outside automotive retail falls outside the product; this is a vertical system with no general-purpose ambitions.

How it is sold

Cloud-native SaaS with a browser interface, and nothing else. There is no on-premises option. Pricing stays unpublished, and quotes are assembled per dealership from the licensed modules, the rooftop count, and contract terms, which matches the rest of the DMS market. Two line items deserve pointed questions before signing, namely payment processing and integration fees, because they decide whether the total actually beats the incumbent contract.

Where it wins, where it loses

Tekion is the most credible cloud-native challenger the CDK and Reynolds duopoly has faced, and the architecture, OEM backing, and integration ecosystem are substance rather than positioning. The right buyer is a dealer or group that wants a browser-based system, a fast update cadence, and open integrations, and that can absorb a full conversion to get there. The wrong buyer is a store whose daily operations depend on edge-case behavior accumulated over decades inside a legacy DMS, since a platform launched in 2016 has had less time to grow those corners. Anyone who cannot staff a conversion touching data migration, OEM certifications, and retraining in every department should also wait. Validate concrete workflows against reference customers of comparable size. Architecture labels settle nothing.

What the Tekion Automotive Retail Cloud website looks like

Current view of the vendor homepage, captured by our editorial team.

Screenshot of the Tekion Automotive Retail Cloud vendor homepage

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Frequently asked questions

Is Tekion a DMS or an ERP system?

It is a dealership management system, the automotive retail equivalent of an ERP. Automotive Retail Cloud combines dealership accounting, payroll, sales desking, finance and insurance, parts, service, and CRM in one platform, which puts it far beyond a point solution. Dealers should evaluate it with the rigor of an ERP selection, because the system becomes the operational and financial backbone of the store.

How is Tekion different from CDK Global or Reynolds and Reynolds?

Architecture and age. Tekion was built cloud-native from the start, while the established DMS providers evolved from decades-old platforms that are largely hosted rather than cloud-native. Day to day the difference shows up in the browser-based interface, the update cadence, and an API-oriented partner ecosystem with more than 250 integrations. The incumbents answer with very deep accumulated functionality and long OEM relationships, so dealer groups should walk through concrete workflows side by side instead of deciding on architecture labels.

Who is behind Tekion and how is the company funded?

Jay Vijayan, previously CIO at Tesla, founded the company in 2016 with co-founder Guru Sankararaman, and headquarters are in Pleasanton, California. Tekion is venture-backed and raised 200 million dollars in growth capital in 2024 at a valuation above 4 billion dollars. The investor list mixes financial firms such as Index Ventures, Advent International, Durable Capital, and Alkeon with strategic automotive backers including General Motors, Hyundai, BMW i Ventures, and Exor.

What do the AI features in Automotive Retail Cloud actually do?

Three of them target the service lane: Service Scheduler AI, Service Advisor AI, and Technician AI, which automate appointment scheduling, write-ups, and workshop tasks. They sit alongside the platform's digital retail experiences, embedded payments through Tekion Pay, and analytics. Ask for a demo against your own service volume rather than a prepared scenario, because the value depends heavily on how your lane is staffed and scheduled today.

What does Tekion cost for a dealership?

Tekion does not publish pricing for Automotive Retail Cloud. Fees are quoted per dealership and depend on the modules licensed, the number of rooftops, and contract terms, which is standard practice in the DMS market. Request itemized quotes, ask specifically about payment processing and integration fees, and hold the total against your current DMS contract before switching.

How difficult is switching to Tekion from an existing DMS?

A DMS conversion is a substantial project. Accounting history, customer records, parts inventory, and open repair orders all have to move, and staff in every department need retraining. OEM integrations and certifications must be in place for each brand the dealer carries. Ask Tekion for references from dealer groups of similar size and plan a realistic cutover timeline rather than assuming a quick switch.