Two major automotive retail software providers announce merger

Two of the automotive industry’s retail software suppliers, Autofutura and GForces, have merged to form a new group.

With the rapid acceleration of the digitization of the automotive sales process, the companies have come together to maximize sales efficiency and improve the way consumers buy cars.

The new group, backed by Inflexion Private Equity, sees the combination of Autofutura, the global, data-driven business intelligence provider, with market leading automotive e-commerce and omnichannel supplier, GForces. It also benefits from the expertise of the recently acquired Chrysalis Loyalty business, now an integral part of Autofutura.

The first of its kind in the industry, the new group aims to connect car maker, finance provider, dealer and consumer to optimise the entire customer journey – through the provision of software and data services.

The new group will be led by data intelligence expert Christian Erlandson as CEO and automotive veteran David Riemenschneider as chairman. Autofutura and GForces already serve 20 of the world’s car manufacturers and more than 10,000 locations across 96 countries. Headquartered out of the UK, its global presence includes offices in Australia, Canada, Germany, Vietnam, UAE and the USA.

“The digitisation of the automotive sales process is accelerating at an unprecedented pace and now is the time to combine the expertise of Autofutura and GForces,” said Christian Erlandson, CEO. “By merging Autofutura’s data intelligence insight with GForces’ e-commerce solutions, there is huge potential to support our customers in streamlining the consumer journey, accelerating sales and driving revenue from the first transaction.”

“The combination of Autofutura with GForces unlocks a unique and highly relevant technology proposition for the automotive retail industry, against a backdrop of accelerating change and disruption for dealers and OEMs,” said Simon Turner, managing partner, Inflexion. “We are delighted to be backing this team to create such an exciting auto tech group, by merging two outstanding private businesses with a long track record of growth.”