From Tesla to Tekion: How Jay Vijayan Is Transforming the Automotive Experience
In this episode of Technovation, Peter High speaks with Jay Vijayan, Founder & CEO of Tekion and former CIO of Tesla, about revolutionizing the dealer-to-consumer automotive experience through a cloud-first, AI-powered SaaS platform. Jay shares how his time at Oracle, VMware, and Tesla inspired the vision for Tekion, now valued at over $4 billion and serving major OEMs and dealer groups across the U.S.

Jay explains Tekion’s three-cloud architecture—Retail Cloud, Enterprise Cloud, and Partner Cloud—and how it’s streamlining operations, enabling e-commerce, and connecting a vast automotive ecosystem. He also unpacks Tekion’s innovative use of AI agents to enhance after-sales service, deliver transparency, and empower both dealers and consumers.

Key topics include:

How Tekion modernizes the fragmented automotive retail experience
The impact of AI co-pilots on vehicle service and customer trust
Lessons from Tesla and Elon Musk that shape Tekion’s product philosophy
Jay’s advice for CIOs aspiring to become CEOs

From Tesla CIO to Tekion CEO: Jay Vijayan’s Journey Transforming Auto Retail