Smart digital license plate company ReviverMX Inc. has signed up Lithia Motors Inc., one of the largest car dealership groups in the country, to install its plates as a dealer option.
Medford, Oregon-based Lithia has 291 dealerships, including 40 makes and an inventory of just under 100,000 vehicles at any given time.
“We are thrilled with the mutual growth and benefits we are seeing with our auto dealer partners. And welcoming Lithia Motors represents a significant enhancement to the program,” said Neville Boston, Reviver founder and chief strategy officer, in a news release.
“Dealers are able to grow their revenue and excite their customers, while Reviver is able to get more digital license plates on the road, more quickly,” he said.
Lithia is the third-largest group of car dealerships, behind CarMax Inc. and Penske Automotive Group Inc.
Locally, Lithia Motors owns Roseville Toyota, Lexus of Roseville, Lexus of Sacramento and Elk Grove Ford. Lithia has more than 33 dealerships in California alone. Lithia has about 40 dealerships in Michigan.
Granite Bay-based Reviver's digital plates automate annual registration, feature geotracking and can display custom messages. The Reviver plate uses a bistable digital screen, which requires no flowing electrical current to show an image.
This Lithia partnership follows Reviver’s announcement in October that it has a deal with Ford Motor Co. where its license plates are an official aftermarket product on Ford vehicles. Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford (NYSE: F) is the first automaker to offer a digital license plate.
Reviver also extended its relationship with Florida-based AutoNation Inc. (NYSE:AN) to include its dealerships in Arizona, in addition to its existing AutoNation dealerships in California.
Reviver’s deal with Lithia is effective now at Lithia dealerships in California and Michigan, states where the issuance of digital license plates is allowed. Through reciprocity rules, license plates legally issued in one state are legal throughout North America. To get the individual states to issue the digital plates requires legislation or regulatory approval. Reviver is working to add more states.
In addition to California, Michigan and Arizona, Reviver’s RPlates are legal for fleets in Texas and the company is finalizing approvals in Georgia, Colorado and Illinois. It's in the process of getting approvals in Florida, New York, New Jersey and Oregon, said CEO Robert Wood.
Reviver signed up its first dealership partnership in 2020 with Hansel Ford in Santa Rosa.
