CARY, N.C. -

Cox Automotive made quite the M&A splash to begin 2021, announcing two major purchases Tuesday that provide some additional muscle to its wholesale and mobility units, respectively.

In separate announcements, Cox said it has acquired Fyusion — a company in the computer vision and vehicle imaging solutions space — and Dickinson Fleet Services, a mobile maintenance provider for medium- and heavy-duty trucks and trailers.

The addition of Fyusion will largely center on the Manheim/wholesale side of the business, whereas Dickinson purchase expands the offerings of the Pivet division within Cox Automotive Mobility.

More information on the purchases, both of which have closed, can be found below.

Purchase expands Fyusion & Manheim collaboration

Starting with the Fyusion purchase, this deal will expand the Manheim-Fyusion collaboration that began in 2018 — work that has centered on building imaging capabilities to help Manheim Express improve the wholesale vehicle listing process and make it simpler.

The companies have worked together for years to provide mobile imaging and condition capture tools within the Manheim Express app.

This purchase will expand upon that partnership.

“Anywhere a car can be imaged, we believe the new technologies that Cox Automotive and Fyusion create together will translate to big benefits for our clients across the auto industry,” Cox Automotive president Steve Rowley said in a news release. “By bringing Fyusion into the Cox Automotive family, we will be able to deliver innovations to our clients faster and help fuel their continued success.”

Among those innovations are plans to build capabilities to improve vehicle inspections and provide more consistency and accuracy, Cox Automotive said.

“Cox Automotive’s commitment to giving clients every advantage through technology made our decision to join forces with them an easy one,” Fyusion chief executive and co-founder Radu Rusu said in a news release. “Combining our industry-leading imaging and AI expertise with Cox Automotive’s reach across the industry will bring game-changing innovations to dealers, commercial clients and consumers.”

In an interview Monday, Rowley said: “Our dealers are looking for greater imaging for the wholesale environment and for resale. And when you have those condition reports, how do you make sure that the accuracy is at the highest level? How do you make sure that the confidence is at the highest level?

"How do you make sure that the objectivity of that is empirical? And so, we feel that this AI and computer visioning and the 360 overall visioning (services of Fyusion) gives us that.”

The types of services Fyusion provides certainly are important as the auction industry moves further digitally. Like many in the wholesale business, Manheim has seen increased digital adoption — in fact, 83% of its inventory is purchased by digital buyers, the company said.

 “Together with Fyusion, we plan to boost client confidence and trust by making the digital buying experience as good as seeing it in person,” Manheim president Grace Huang said in a news release. “We are excited to bring Fyusion into the Cox Automotive family to further accelerate the types of innovations that deliver value, convenience and a connected experience for our clients.”

Rowley said in the interview that the increased digitization of wholesale was “clearly a part” of the decision to purchase Fyusion, an addition that can give Manheim customers greater visibility into the vehicles they are purchasing through the company’s technology

“We want to be at the forefront of that digital environment and help drive success for that wholesaler and give that person, he or she, the confidence and the objectivity that says this is the right car for us, and it matches up,” Rowley said.

Dickinson adds to Pivet fleet service offering

As far as Dickinson Fleet Services purchase, the addition of the mobile maintenance provider for medium- and heavy-duty trucks/trailers expands the footprint and capabilities of the Pivet fleet services marketplace within Cox Automotive Mobility, the company said.

The Dickinson offering includes an array of preventive maintenance and mobile emergency repair services, more than 700 mobile repair units and 800 technicians.

 “Cox Automotive is building a fleet optimization marketplace designed to manage every fleet asset’s complete lifecycle, and the acquisition of Dickinson Fleet Services both strengthens and diversifies Pivet’s growing portfolio,” Cox Automotive Mobility president Joe George said in a news release. “The mobile repair segment will only become more significant over time, and the seamless integration of Dickinson’s capabilities provides a considerable leap forward on our path to making Pivet the industry’s most comprehensive fleet services resource.”

And Cox Automotive believes fleet services will become a larger part of the mobility and overall automotive landscape. Rowley said in an interview that the company projects that by 2020, 30% of miles driven will be by fleets, up from 6-7% today. That includes everything from Amazon delivery trucks to Uber, Lyft and other shared services.

“All these are fleet services. And how do we participate in that? So, with the dealer-centric mind, we've developed Pivot … (which is) a national scale of suppliers to provide services along those lines,” Rowley said.

Combining the size and scale of Dickinson with Cox Automotive and its partners to continue expanding the Pivot network, “we really think we can build scale across the horizon,” he said.

“As you think about those trucks that come to your neighborhood, they're generating revenue all the time. And so, during that down time is when you want to service them,” Rowley said.

Cox Automotive would then look at, “how do we create predictability, how do we take care of maintenance, how do we drive those things in a mobile world, so that we never touch a truck during the revenue producing minute or hour, so to speak.”

Dickinson will operate with the Pivot fleet optimization and services marketplace and will be complementary to Pivet’s existing service centers, Cox said.

In a news release, Dickinson executive officers Mike Dickinson and Ted Coltrain said: “We are honored to be a part of the Cox family, and excited for what this partnership means for our team and our customers. Cox Automotive Mobility has an incredible vision to develop our people and expand our service offering and footprint. Together, we will be able to rapidly respond to our customers’ fleet needs today and into the future.”

In the release, Rowley added, “A core foundation of our business, and key to Manheim’s 75-year legacy, is about exploring and growing what’s next in the transportation business, and then delivering those insights to our customers.

“Nearly half of the manufacturers and thousands of dealers have engaged us in varying levels of conversation around executing service in new ways, including mobile maintenance. The learnings we’ll gain operating the Dickinson Fleet Services business will be beneficial to helping our customers learn, grow and execute in this space.”