Tekion builds the Automotive Retail Cloud — a cloud-native platform that runs dealership operations end to end, spanning the DMS, CRM, service and analytics, used by more than 3,000 dealerships. It positions itself as the modern, AI-native way to run a store, and dealers who chose it generally did so to get away from fragmented legacy systems.
This article covers a job Tekion does not do and Motuva does: the vehicle photographs themselves. To be precise about the relationship — Motuva is not a DMS, not a retail platform, and not a competitor to Tekion in any way. It does one thing, upstream of your platform: it turns lot photos into consistent studio-quality images. Those images then go into your inventory and out to your listings the same way your photos do today.
What stays where
Tekion runs the dealership. Inventory, deals, customers, service, the data that every department works from. None of that changes, and Motuva never touches your Tekion environment or your data.
Motuva produces the images. A phone photo from the lot goes in; a studio-quality image comes out — the same clean environment across your whole inventory, license plates handled on every image, your branding embedded if you want it. The output is full-resolution JPEG or PNG files.
The workflow
- Photograph the vehicle at intake, with a phone, wherever it is parked. The standard angle set: exterior, interior, wheels, trunk.
- Process the set in Motuva. Upload through the web app, choose the studio setting, download the finished images.
- Upload the images into your merchandising flow exactly as photos move today — onto the inventory record, to your website, into your syndication. Downstream systems see ordinary image files.
No integration is needed to start, and nothing about your Tekion configuration changes — to the platform, Motuva's output is simply better photographs attached to the record. For stores and groups that want the step automated, Motuva's Ultra plan includes API access: processing runs programmatically inside your intake routine instead of by hand, with images ready to attach to the record as vehicles come through recon. The manual download-and-upload workflow works on every plan from day one, so the API is a volume decision, not a requirement.
A photography step that matches a modern stack
Dealers move to a cloud platform to make operations consistent and measurable. Vehicle photography is usually the step that stays inconsistent — shot by whoever is free, wherever the car sits, in whatever weather. The listings show it: every VDP a different background, every vehicle presented slightly differently.
Processing every set through the same studio configuration fixes that without changing who shoots or where. The photographer still walks the same circuit around the car with a phone; the difference is that every set comes back in the same clean environment, so the whole inventory presents as one operation. The case for consistency is laid out in why consistent photo backgrounds win buyers, and the underlying numbers — better photo sets, more engagement, more leads — are collected in do better photos sell cars faster?
A channel note that applies downstream: most marketplaces restrict text and overlays on listing images, so keep syndication-bound uploads clean. Overlays and burned-in branding belong on your own website and social channels.
The honesty rule
The output is your own photograph of the vehicle composited into a rendered studio — the vehicle in the output is the vehicle you photographed, its own pixels, because nothing about it is generated. Check each output against the original anyway, the same way you would verify anything customer-facing: a hard shot can separate imperfectly from its background, and the listing is the store's responsibility. The environment is presentation; the vehicle the buyer test-drives must be the vehicle in the photos.
What it costs
Flat monthly pricing, no credit system, no demo cycle. Free is 20 images a month at full output quality with no watermark, using the studio library. Pro is $49 a month for 150 images and adds build-your-own studios, which is where store branding lives. Ultra is $99 a month for unlimited images plus the API. Most dealers process three to eight images per vehicle, so Pro covers roughly 20–50 vehicles a month and Ultra suits stores processing inventory daily. Groups above roughly 500 vehicles a month have bespoke Enterprise pricing. There is no annual contract to negotiate — the plan scales up or down with the volume you actually process.
The same pattern on other platforms
The workflow is platform-agnostic: photograph, process, upload to the system of record, let the platform distribute. Stores running CDK Global follow the identical pattern, and so does any DMS where photos attach to an inventory record.
Prove it on your own inventory
Take the photos behind one of your current listings, run them through the free plan, and compare side by side. Twenty free images a month is a handful of vehicles — enough to judge the output on your own stock before any money changes hands.
Related reading
How Motuva works alongside CDK Global: AI studio images processed in Motuva, then uploaded to your inventory and listings as you do today.
Inconsistent car listing photos undermine your dealership's credibility. Here is how to get consistent backgrounds across your whole stock — without more effort.
AutoTrader Canada research shows listings with 11+ photos get 205% more page views and 185% more leads. What the data means for your forecourt.