Arkona Inc.
announced Sept. 10 that Automotive Equity Partners (AEP) has selected Arkona to
Arkona Inc.
announced Sept. 10 that Automotive Equity Partners (AEP) has selected Arkona to
provide services and solutions for its growing list of dealerships. AEP is
made up of investors focused on partnering with dealer candidates who lack
the capital to acquire a new car franchise on their own. They say they plan to
acquire up to 40 new franchise dealerships over the next several years.
As part of the agreement, Arkona says it will supply AEP with a dealership
management system featuring service, parts, accounting, F&I, customer
relationship management (CRM) and a suite of training and consulting
services.
"After completing our research of all the major dealer management system
vendors, the reasons to select Arkona as our DMS partner were obvious," said
Dale Hermiller, COO, AEP. "Arkona's overall solution, pricing and growing
presence in the automotive marketplace provide our dealerships with a
complete package at a reasonable price. All the tools that a dealership
needs to conduct business and take care of its customers are included and
Arkona does not require long-term contracts for our dealerships. More
importantly, I can personally access any of our dealerships just by logging
on to the Internet. The days of faxing in the daily operating summary are
long gone."
"This is a great opportunity to work closely with a business partner like
AEP," noted Rich Holland, President, Arkona. "Our goal as a partner is to
integrate our solutions to meet OEM requirements and then organize our
corporate resources and products to match the business plans of companies
like Automotive Equity Partners. The advanced tools we provide will ensure
that AEP dealerships get off to a good start and that they quickly realize
organizational efficiencies and profitability."
About Automotive Equity Partners
Automotive Equity Partners was recently formed by a group of private
investors with many years of automotive experience. AEP's business model
allows a qualified dealer candidate to acquire a minority stake in a new car
franchise and repurchase AEP's shares over time. Most dealer candidates
have at least 10% of the required capital.
About Arkona Inc.
Founded in 1996, Arkona is a public company in automotive
management solutions. For more
information visit the Arkona Web site at www.arkona.com.

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