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

Technovation with Peter High (CIO, CTO, CDO, CXO Interviews)

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