Tekion recently announced two key agreements as it looks to grow its foothold at dealerships in the U.S.
Offering a cloud-native platform serving the entire automotive retail ecosystem, it recently announced a new partnership with Ken Garff Automotive Group that has over 70 stores representing 27 brands across the U.S..
Ken Garff has selected Tekion’s Automotive Retail Cloud (ARC) as its newest technology partner, according to company officials. ARC is a comprehensive, cloud-native platform that includes retail, service, parts, accounting, customer relationship management, analytics and more in one seamless platform to help elevate and materially improve an auto retailer’s end-to-end operations.
Tekion is already powering several of Ken Garff’s stores, and ARC will be implemented across the the entire organization by the end of 2026.
Ken Garff Deal
“Our partnership with Tekion represents our unwavering commitment to innovation and excellence. By leveraging cutting-edge technology, we’re not only enhancing the customer experience but also redefining what’s possible in the auto industry,” said Brett Hopkins, CEO of Ken Garff Automotive Group is a statement released with the announcement. “Together, we’re setting new standards and meeting the evolving needs of our customers with confidence and care.”
“We are proud to partner with Ken Garff to deliver the best technology in automotive retail experiences to their customers and employees,” said Jay Vijayan, founder and CEO of Tekion. “Ken Garff has been a leader in the automotive retail community for over 90 years, and we look forward to working with them to redefine the way consumers buy and service vehicles.”
Asbury Pilot
The deal with Ken Graff comes in the wake of Asbury Automotive Group reported the company is “encouraged” by staff feedback about its four store pilot in Georgia as it has increased productivity as well as making employee training easier. CEO David Hult noted the stores were able to reduce plug-ons by about 70 percent, reduce costs.
“From sales to service, this new platform has the potential to simplify the guest experience, improve team member efficiency, all at a lower cost per transaction,” said Hult during a fourth-quarter earnings call Jan. 30. “Our productivity numbers, even in the pilot in the first few months where you expect things to be a little bit rocky, our productivity per employee went up in all the stores. Some slight, some more than others—but a positive sign.”
For the employee training, Hult noted where it used to take us five days to onboard a service advisor, we can do it in a day now due to the efficient of the technology. The company plans to convert more dealerships to the new DMS in 2025 and 2026 and switch completely to Tekion by 2027.
“The ease-of-use is going to make it a big differentiator,” said Holt. “And to us, the exciting part is, the software is going to increase our productivity, make us more efficient, allowing our folks to really create the experience.”
