9:15 am, October 28, 2024
Dealer management systems provider Pinewood has rebranded as Pinewood.AI.
The company, which was formerly a part of Pendragon before the car sales side of the business was sold to US dealer group Lithia, says the new name stands for Pinewood Automotive Intelligence and bills itself as a pure-play SaaS (Software as a Service) business.
The group held a Capital Markets Event for investors last week, in which CEO Bill Berman (pictured), CFO Ollie Mann and other senior leaders from across the business provided an update on the company’s strategy.
Berman said: ‘Pinewood is a business with over two decades of industry experience and engagement with the automotive retail sector.
‘We provide our customers with a single, secure software system that covers all aspects of the customer journey from the front of house reception team, the vehicle sales team, the service technicians, right through to the accounts team.
‘We have very high levels of customer retention and are proud to partner with over 50 OEM brands worldwide, many of whom are long-standing partners.
‘This provides us with strong foundations to achieve our ambitions as a standalone company and I am delighted with the progress we have made this year.
‘At Capital Markets Day we were delighted to announce an exciting update to our customer-facing brand identity under the banner of Pinewood.AI.
‘We believe this reinvigorated proposition will further enhance the steps we have already taken to strengthen our go-to-market function and deliver on the exciting plans we have for the future.’
Pinewood.AI has confirmed that is has largely completed the rollout of its products to the UK sites of strategic partner Lithia, and last week was awarded a contract with Marshalls, strengthening its position in the UK market.
Pinewood.AI’s rebrand follows the PLC’s $4.2m (£3.2m) investment in Dubai-based AI firm, Seez, last month. Among other updates, it has been confirmed that the Pinewood.AI system will be enhanced with an artificial intelligence capability, to automatically look for insights across the customer journey: sourcing, buying, selling, servicing and repairing.
Kim Costello, Global Chief Marketing Officer, added: ‘Pinewood Automotive Intelligence is a unique solution because we are designed by car people, for car people. With our new proposition we are primed for our roll out into the US market, and beyond.’
