Pinewood Technologies Group (Pinewood.AI) and Lithia UK Holdings Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lithia & Driveway, announced an agreement in which Pinewood.AI will acquire Lithia’s 51% interest in their North American joint venture (JV) for $76.5 million.
The acquisition will be satisfied through the issue of 14,560,691 new ordinary shares in Pinewood.AI and values the JV at $150 million. Lithia will remain a committed minority shareholder and key long-term customer.
Bill Berman, CEO of Pinewood Technologies Group, said: “The US and Canada are central to our growth strategy, and through the Joint Venture, we have made significant progress towards commercializing the Pinewood Automotive Intelligence platform for the North American market. Assuming full control of the Joint Venture will strengthen our ability to fully capitalize on the opportunities available in a key strategic growth market.
“Today, we are also announcing that we have agreed the terms of a five-year contract with Lithia to implement the Pinewood Automotive Intelligence™ Platform across all its current and future sites by the end of 2028.
“This is a significant milestone on our journey to entering the North American market and we remain on track to pilot the platform in Lithia’s US stores in the second half of 2025, with the full system rollout commencing in 2026.”
The two companies have also signed a five-year contract committing to the rollout of the Pinewood Automotive Intelligence platform across all Lithia’s current and future dealerships in the US and Canada projected by the end of 2028.
Bryan DeBoer, President and CEO of Lithia & Driveway, said: “This agreement represents the next step in our strategic partnership with Pinewood.AI and supports our vision to modernize customer experiences across our ecosystem.
“As Pinewood.AI’s largest global customer, we are excited to partner in the rollout of their platform across our North American network and accelerate our transformation into a fully integrated, data-driven retailer. Pinewood.AI is now able to emerge as the leading automotive intelligence provider in the U.S.
“Each of our global stores are committed to the Pinewood Automotive Intelligence platform, and we will continue partnering on best-in-class product development.”
