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Bonus Episode: Tekion CEO Jay Vijayan on profitability plans and ROI transparency

Bonus Episode: Tekion CEO Jay Vijayan on profitability plans and ROI transparency

Automotive News Daily Drive Feb 22, 2026 6 min
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About this episode

Jay Vijayan, CEO of Tekion, discusses the challenges and opportunities of integrating AI in the automotive industry. He addresses dealer hesitations regarding AI adoption, emphasizing the importance of delivering clear ROI metrics to build confidence. Vijayan shares insights on Tekion's growth, including plans for profitability and the launch of 3,000 new features. He also touches on potential acquisitions, highlighting the need for strategic alignment. This conversation provides a deep dive into the future of automotive technology and the role of AI in enhancing dealer operations.

Topics: ai integration roi transparency dealer hesitations profitability plans automotive technology feature launches acquisitions strategy
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The auto industry is the most disrupted on the planet right now.
On this week's episode of the automotive news shift podcast, we hear from Dan Hirsch, global
co-leader of automotive and industrial practice at Alex Partners.
He breaks down the firm's 2026 disruption index and explains why tariffs, geopolitical
tensions and the rise of the Chinese automakers are leaving global executives struggling to
plan for the future.
Senior executives, they are either finding themselves in a spot where they have to redefine
themselves, which could be very difficult when you're really well established, or they're going
to find themselves in a very different role or in a very different company.
I'm Molly Boygon. Join me on SHIFT, available this Sunday wherever you get your podcasts.
Hey, this is daily drive executive producer Jake Nier in Detroit. Thanks for joining me
for this bonus episode of the show. Way back on Thursday, we brought you the first part of
our own Mark Holmer's interview with Techian CEO J. Vijayan from the NADA show this month in Las
Vegas. If you missed that, go check it out. If not, here's the rest of it.
Our dealers ready for this level of AI at this point. I mean, you know, culturally,
there's some wariness about high tech and AI because of the cost, because of the conflict
between systems and AI hasn't always been successful. I mean, do you encounter those
hesitations? And if so, what do you tell me? No, we're super excited about this for multiple
reasons. There is reasons to it, right? So one is, you know, there is no good way to quantify ROI
or value. Okay, that's number one. Dealers feel like second, I think there are many companies
rush to launch AI agents before it's truly ready. Sure. So while that people are excited,
they want to try, of course, they want to really do something to improve customer experience,
make their business better. But when they try it, the tools are not ready, half baked,
they run into a lot of problems. So many times they roll back, then they look for another tool.
So to overcome that, and it's the right thing to do, not just to overcome that, what we have done
is one, AI tools are truly tried and tested. So the, you know, even when I did the launch,
I had multiple dealers who come on the stage and save and early dealers who use the product,
how they've used it, what value they're getting. So that's one, you're making the product truly
the best and usable, right? So yes, early dealers, yes, you can go through some bumps,
but it cannot be a completely a beta product where, you know, hit or miss, right? You don't have.
Second is ROI. I mandated my team and did an amazing job taking it to the heart is
when we deliver AI, with the AI, you deliver an ROI dashboard.
A ROI dashboard that clearly states what value the AI has brought and in terms of dollar value,
in terms of very specific quantifiable metrics, like, okay, if it's handled calls,
how many calls it has handled, how much, what percentage of the calls AI has handled,
if it's dollars per RO, how much dollars per RO that was very clearly can be attributed towards AI
that did the job to sell that additional dollars per RO. So ROI and showing the ROI has been a
big deal and honestly, it's resonating so well dealers. They feel like, oh my God, okay, that's
clear now. I feel, I know what I'm paying and I know what I'm going to get. So heading into
2026, do you still plan to knock the public or are you going to finally pull the trigger down
that the markets have been kicking into over? See, that will be whenever we are ready, right?
When I say when I am ready, it's about, it's not about, you know, we are, we as a company are
doing extremely well. Just on your own, right? Yeah, very well, right? See, that would be at
the right time and, you know, I'll definitely keep you posted. The one thing I would say,
which I've mentioned to you and, you know, you published it as well publicly, thank you,
that we are going to be profitable this year. We're going to be profitable this year.
That's still on track. On track, going, excuse me, yeah, I will let you know in advance.
If you're okay with that, if you want to know or want to be the first, I'm giving you a very
open offer to. 2026 is the year that you had profitability. Absolutely. The idea is to be
profitable and stay profitable and keep increasing our profit margins that still we'll have enough
cash to invest in our, you know, new development, new growth, something you may know this already.
I don't think any other BMS company can ever claim this. We launched 3000 new features last year,
2026. In 2025, I shared with you, it was 2700. In 2024, it was 2700. In 2025,
we launched 3000 new features, which includes the AI features. So we'll keep pushing,
keep innovating and keep delivering value. Is a company at your point in development looking
for acquisitions? Yeah, good question. We always, yes. That's the question is, we keep looking for,
we don't actively look for, but we keep our eyes and ears open. We have some, you know,
good partners and bankers whom we engage with. They bring in, they know, so they get our strategy
to say what it is. So some of the things from philosophically for me, acquisition is something
it has to be quite complimentary. So it needs to bring, we want to acquire, I'll tell you,
it's very simple. In month, we want to acquire a company for revenue or for, you know, acquiring
customers, basically acquiring additional dealers we want. Okay. There is a reason why, because
our revenue is already automatically growing well. If any company we want to acquire revenue and if
they are growing, so we are already growing over 50%. The company that we acquire grows at
only 20%. Even though they're bringing a lot of cash, like say 100 million,
it's going to drag down our growth. So why? So anyway, the point is, it has to be complimentary
from a tech stack perspective. And in terms of functionality perspective, then yes, we are
looking at and the right time, if we find the right company, yes, we will. Very good. Thank you
for taking the time to talk with me and sharing what's going on. I hope your plans this week
aren't full with too many meetings. And I hope there's much success. Thank you, Mark. It's exciting.
Thanks for the opportunity again. We're sure to have the conversation. Thank you. Thanks.
Thanks for listening to this bonus episode of Daily Drive. Come back on Monday for a brand new
full episode of the show.

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