Ekho Named to the 2026 Powersports Business Nifty 50 as the Top-Ranked Dealer Tech Platform

We're proud to share that Ekho has been named to the 2026 Powersports Business Nifty 50, a prestigious annual list recognizing the products and services doing the most to drive dealer profitability across the powersports industry.

Ekho was ranked #16 out of 50 — and notably, we were the highest-ranked dealership technology platform on the entire list.

The Nifty 50 is selected by the editors of Powersports Business magazine, one of the industry's most respected publications, and is designed to spotlight companies that are making a measurable impact on how dealers operate and grow. Being recognized alongside some of the most established names in the industry is a milestone for Ekho — and a signal that the shift toward AI-native, technology-driven dealership operations is gaining serious momentum.

What This Recognition Means

The Nifty 50 isn't a technology award — it's a profitability award. The list is built around a single question: which products and services are doing the most to help dealers make more money?

That framing matters. Ekho wasn't recognized for being the newest or the most feature-rich. We were recognized because dealers using Ekho are seeing real results: more leads, more completed sales, less manual work, and fewer tools to manage.

Being the top-ranked dealer technology platform on this list validates what we hear from our dealer partners every day — that Ekho is helping them grow their businesses without growing headcount.

Introducing Ekho AI Agents — Starting with AI BDC

One of our most exciting recent launches is the Ekho AI BDC (Business Development Center) — an AI-powered assistant that handles dealer website inquiries, SMS conversations, and lead qualification around the clock.

Most dealerships lose leads outside of business hours. Calls go to voicemail. Web forms sit untouched overnight. By the time staff follow up, the buyer has already moved on.

Ekho AI BDC changes that. It engages every inbound inquiry instantly — day or night — with intelligent, context-aware conversations that qualify leads, answer product questions, and route high-intent buyers to the right salesperson. It works across your website, SMS, and chat channels, so no lead falls through the cracks.

For dealers, this means:

• 24/7 lead engagement without hiring additional BDC staff
• Faster response times that convert more browsers into buyers
• Consistent, professional follow-up on every inquiry
• More qualified leads handed off to your sales team

Early adopters are already seeing strong results, and we're rolling out AI BDC to dealers nationwide as a standalone product — meaning any dealer can start using it immediately, even without the full Ekho platform.

AI-Native Dealer Websites

Ekho's dealer website platform is purpose-built for the AI era. Unlike legacy website providers that bolt on features to aging architectures, Ekho websites are designed from the ground up to be discovered by both traditional search engines and AI systems like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity.

Our 2026 AI Vehicle Research Study found that 30% of in-market vehicle buyers are already using AI tools during their shopping journey — and that number is accelerating. Most dealer websites are invisible to these AI systems. Ekho websites are built to be cited.

Key capabilities include:

• AI-enriched vehicle listings with structured data optimized for generative search
• Automated content generation that keeps inventory descriptions fresh and detailed
• Intelligent Inventory Merchandising powered by AI to surface the right units to the right buyers
• Continuous GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) monitoring so dealers can see exactly how they rank in AI search vs. competitors
• Fast, mobile-first performance designed for modern buyer expectations

With Ekho's free Dealer Website Grader, any dealer can see exactly how visible they are to AI search today — and what steps to take to improve.

50-State Transaction Engine

At the core of Ekho is the industry's most comprehensive vehicle transaction engine — purpose-built to power compliant, end-to-end vehicle sales across all 50 states.

Selling vehicles online isn't like selling merchandise. Every state has different rules for titling, registration, tax remittance, insurance verification, and franchise compliance. Most dealers either avoid out-of-state sales entirely or piece together manual workflows that are slow, error-prone, and hard to scale.

Ekho's transaction engine automates the entire process:

• Financing and desking with real-time lender integrations
• Titling and registration across all 50 states
• Tax calculation and remittance with jurisdiction-level accuracy
• Insurance verification and compliance checks
• Fraud detection and KYC workflows
• Digital signature collection and sales documentation
• F&I product presentation that preserves dealer margin

This is what separates Ekho from traditional website providers and lead-generation tools. We don't just help dealers collect leads — we help them close deals, compliantly, from anywhere in the country.

The Unified Dealer Platform

The average dealership runs on a patchwork of disconnected tools — one for websites, another for CRM, another for desking, another for reporting, and more. Each tool has its own login, its own data silo, and its own monthly bill. The result is wasted time, lost data, and frustrated staff.

Ekho replaces that fragmented stack with a single, unified platform that brings everything together:

• CRM — manage your leads, customers, and pipeline in one place, with AI-powered prioritization and follow-up
• Scheduling — let buyers book test rides, service appointments, and consultations directly from your website
• Reporting and analytics — real-time visibility into sales performance, lead sources, conversion rates, and revenue
• Inventory management — centralized control over your units, pricing, and merchandising across all channels
• Communication hub — unified inbox for email, SMS, chat, and AI BDC conversations

The goal is simple: reduce the number of tools a dealer needs to run their business while giving them better data, better workflows, and better outcomes than any individual point solution could deliver.

What's Next

Being named to the Nifty 50 is a milestone, but it's also a reminder that we're just getting started. The powersports and vehicle retail industry is in the middle of a fundamental shift — from fragmented, manual operations to AI-native, automated commerce.

Ekho is building the platform that powers that shift. Every product we launch — from AI BDC to our website platform to our transaction engine — is designed around one principle: help dealers grow their businesses without growing headcount.

To every dealer partner, OEM, and team member who has been part of this journey — thank you. This recognition belongs to all of us.

If you're a dealer who wants to see what Ekho can do for your business, we'd love to show you.