Keyloop buys Motortech.ai to boost Fusion AI tools

Keyloop has completed the acquisition of Motortech.ai, bringing Motortech.ai’s AIME product into its Fusion automotive retail platform.

The deal adds an AI-based customer communications tool for car retailers’ sales and service operations. AIME will be integrated across core parts of Fusion, including Vehicle Hub, Acquisition Hub and Sales Hub.

Motortech.ai is a UK-based developer of automotive retail software. Its main product, AIME, is designed to handle online customer conversations that would otherwise go through website forms or sales staff.

According to Keyloop, the software can respond to customers at any time of day, search vehicle stock, provide finance quotations, value part exchanges, capture test-drive preferences and book appointments. The system is intended to reduce lost leads caused by slow response times and limited out-of-hours support.

AIME also screens customer interactions before passing higher-intent leads to sales teams. By the time a lead reaches staff, the software may already have checked stock, produced finance quotes and valued a part exchange, reducing the time employees spend on each potential sale.

Tom Kilroy, chief executive officer of Keyloop, set the acquisition within the group’s wider use of artificial intelligence in dealership software.

“The acquisition of Motortech.ai and integration of AIME across Fusion is a significant milestone in our AI strategy. By embedding purpose-built conversational AI directly into our platform, we’re giving retailers an always-on capability that engages customers and frees sales teams to focus on what they do best – building relationships and closing deals,” said Kilroy.

Dealer Results

Keyloop cited early results from one dealer already using AIME on its website. The retailer deployed the system as part of an effort to improve customer satisfaction and reduce the number of separate IT tools in use.

Over a three-month period, the dealer’s web conversion rate rose fourfold to 14.5%, according to figures supplied by Keyloop. Sales also increased by 101% over the same period.

Keyloop said the retailer generated GBP £18 in profit for every GBP £1 invested in the software. The business also saved the equivalent of 19 full working days, allowing sales staff to spend more time on customer interactions.

Platform Push

The move expands Keyloop’s presence in AI tools for automotive retail, an area where software providers are trying to help dealers automate more of the customer journey while preserving human involvement in higher-value conversations. By placing AIME inside Fusion rather than offering it as a separate product, Keyloop is seeking to integrate customer communications with the wider systems that manage stock, websites and sales processes.

The acquisition follows an initial agreement to buy Motortech.ai reached earlier this year.