Connect with us

Technology

Lexus Leapfrogs Toyota to Claim Top Spot in Cloud Theory Inventory Efficiency Index for August

Published

on

Volkswagen is Biggest Mover, Rising Four Spots to #8; New Vehicle Inventory Stays Under 3 Million at 2.95 Million Units

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., Sept. 5, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Lexus moved into the top spot in Cloud Theory’s Inventory Efficiency Index (IEI), moving past its sister company, Toyota, which had held the top spot for eight consecutive months. Lexus jumped 63 points to 246.2, while Toyota fell 14.9 points to 220.8. The findings were part of Cloud Theory’s September report, “On the Horizon,” a comprehensive review of inventory, pricing and vehicle movement in the auto industry.

Lexus has been rising in the Inventory Efficiency Rankings for several months, and benefited from the beginning stages of its model year changeover, which is leading to 2024 sell-downs as 2025 vehicles begin to arrive on dealer lots.

“While Lexus’ most recent performance on Inventory Efficiency may be boosted by its MYCO, that brand and its parent company have a long history of selling inventory efficiently,” said Ron Boe, Chief Revenue Officer for Cloud Theory. “Whether it is Lexus-Toyota or Toyota-Lexus, there is no denying that Toyota Motor Corporation knows how to move metal in a highly proficient manner.”

Lexus and Toyota topped the field by a wide margin. Third-place finisher Honda had an IEI score of 160.9. General Motors continued its overall strong IEI performance, as Chevrolet, Buick and GMC finished 7th, 9th and 10th, respectively. Volkswagen was the biggest mover, jumping four spots to 8th.

Cloud Theory’s patent-pending Inventory Efficiency Index (IEI) provides a real-time view of market-relevant automotive supply and demand of all makes and models and across all geographies. Key decision-makers can use the IEI to confidently allocate valuable marketing and incentive dollars to models or geographies requiring a boost in demand, or to redistribute vehicles to locations that are moving inventory more efficiently. Cloud Theory’s Inventory Efficiency Index assigns scores to vehicle makes and models based on current active inventory and sales data relative to competitors.

A score of 100 means that an OEM’s demand is balanced with its relative supply in the marketplace.A score above 100 indicates that a make or model is selling its inventory more efficiently than average.A score below 100 means that there are opportunities to bring demand into better alignment with supply (or vice versa).

In other findings, vehicle inventory has jumped by nearly 50 percent year-over-year (1.96 million units in August 2023 to 2.95 million units in August 2024), but has plateaued at just under 3 million units after hitting 2.95 million units in August, 2.93 million units in July, and 2.94 million units in June.

Click here to download a copy of Cloud Theory’s On The Horizon Report.

About Cloud Theory
Cloud Theory is more than a concept. It is the eye of the storm, where cutting-edge data, software, and artificial intelligence meet deep industry knowledge and experience. Built for automotive manufacturers, agencies, and affiliates, Cloud Theory enables our customers to understand – in real time – the complex competitive world in which they do business and to make bold decisions that drive them forward. The combination of billions of data points, interactive tools, and expert consulting gives our clients the ability to weather any storm and find their way to clear blue skies. Learn more at cloudtheory.ai. To learn more about our entire portfolio of automotive brands, visit www.advancelocalautomotive.com

For media inquiries, please contact:

Mike DeVilling
mdevilling@westshorepr.com

Jenn Haun 
jhaun@cloudtheory.ai 

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lexus-leapfrogs-toyota-to-claim-top-spot-in-cloud-theory-inventory-efficiency-index-for-august-302239728.html

SOURCE Cloud Theory

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Technology

Simply announces compatibility with AI glasses from Meta

Published

on

By

NEW YORK, April 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Simply, the creative hobbies leader behind the market leading apps Simply Piano, Simply Guitar, Simply Sing, and Simply Draw, today announced compatibility with AI glasses from Meta.

 

The launch signals Simply’s next leap – from mobile and augmented reality into AI glasses – as part of its long–term vision to build a fully multimodal AI platform that connects physical creativity, digital experiences, and wearable interfaces.

After pioneering music learning through augmented reality with Simply Piano for Apple Vision Pro and Simply Piano for Android XR, Simply is now expanding its creative hobbies ecosystem into AI–powered wearables. The new integration with Simply Draw and AI glasses from Meta lets learners capture their drawing process in real time, generating AI–enhanced timelapses and shareable creative assets that showcase their creation. 

“This is an exciting step toward a new era for creativity,” said Yuval Kaminka, CEO and Co–Founder of Simply. “We believe that the way we experience the arts, learning, playing and creative expression at home will become fully contextual. AI glasses allow us to move closer to a true AI creative companion – a multimodal AI, one that understands what you’re doing and supports you in the moment.”

“AI glasses are becoming a natural extension of how we learn and create,” added Eliran Douenias, Head of Product Innovation at Simply. “Our products already enable immersive and virtual experiences with XR and spatial computing, now we’re adding AI glasses from Meta as the next interface – and it’s just the first of an exciting roadmap ahead.”

“Simply’s early move into the AI glasses space puts us ahead of the curve and positions us to lead in how wearables – specifically AI glasses – become part of everyday creative life,” said Douenias.

With this launch, Simply is expanding its platform for the AI era. The new compatibility with AI glasses from Meta enhances how learners see, capture, and share their creative process, with many more experiences to follow.

About Simply

Simply is the world’s leading AI creativity platform redefining how people learn and express themselves through music, arts, crafts, and more. Its award–winning apps – Simply Piano, Simply Guitar, Simply Sing, and Simply Draw – have empowered millions globally to pick up and develop fulfilling creative hobbies that last.

Contact info: eliran@hellosimply.com

Video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VquEDFtY-40
Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2940139/Simply.jpg

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/simply-announces-compatibility-with-ai-glasses-from-meta-302755903.html

SOURCE Simply

Continue Reading

Technology

Levine Leichtman Capital Partners Hires James Smith as Managing Director

Published

on

By

LONDON, April 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Levine Leichtman Capital Partners (“LLCP”) announced today that James Smith has joined the Firm as a Managing Director in the Investment Management group. James will be based in LLCP’s London office.

Josh Kaufman, Head of Europe at LLCP, said, “We are thrilled to welcome James to LLCP. James adds valuable experience to the team within our core Business Services sector vertical. We look forward to the impact he will have as our European business and team continues to grow.”

James joins LLCP from Advent International where he was a senior member of the European Business & Financial Services team and participated in numerous successful transactions over his 12-year tenure. Prior to Advent, James worked at Bain & Company. James’ full biography can be found at https://www.llcp.com/team

About Levine Leichtman Capital Partners

Levine Leichtman Capital Partners, LLC is a middle-market private equity firm with a 42-year track record of investing across various targeted sectors, including Business Services, Franchising & Multi-unit, Education & Training and Engineered Products & Manufacturing. LLCP utilizes a differentiated Structured Private Equity investment strategy, combining debt and equity capital investments in portfolio companies. LLCP believes that by investing in a combination of debt and equity securities, it offers management teams growth capital in a highly tailored, flexible investment structure that can be a more attractive alternative than traditional private equity.

LLCP’s global team of dedicated investment professionals is led by 9 partners who have worked at LLCP for an average of 20 years. Since inception, LLCP and its affiliates have managed approximately $18.5 billion of capital across nearly 20 investment funds and has invested in approximately 120 portfolio companies. LLCP currently manages $12.6 billion of assets and has offices in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Miami, London, Stockholm, Amsterdam and Frankfurt.

Media Contact: Isabel Moon, imoon@llcp.com

Logo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2349427/5942845/LLCP_Logo.jpg

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/levine-leichtman-capital-partners-hires-james-smith-as-managing-director-302756349.html

Continue Reading

Technology

Appian Advances AI in Process to Deliver Enterprise Outcomes at Scale

Published

on

By

New capabilities in agentic automation and AI-assisted spec-driven development transform complex work.

ORLANDO, Fla., April 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Appian [Nasdaq: APPN] today announced enhancements to the Appian Platform, including AI-assisted spec-driven development and Model Context Protocol (MCP) integration for agents. By anchoring AI within processes, Appian eliminates the primary hurdles to AI value: fragmented data, and a lack of reliability and control. Process models provide the structure needed to deliver results safely, and at scale.

Advancements in AI agents enable more intelligent, coordinated work

AI agents in Appian are smarter, safer and more effective because they have better structure, context and guardrails. Appian is enhancing interoperability across its AI ecosystem. By adopting powerful standards like Model Context Protocol (MCP), Appian agents will be able to interface securely with external enterprise systems. Third party AI agents will have access to powerful Appian tools like data fabric which uniquely provides unified read-write access to enterprise data.

Appian is also advancing agent learning by providing users the ability to track agent performance, and then apply an agent’s memory across processes to improve decision making. Users will soon be able to expand on this by giving AI guidance on what objectives to optimize against and recommend improvements that can be applied safely.

Customer value

Global Excel Management, a worldwide healthcare risk management provider, uses Appian to transform claims processes with AI.

“As part of our digital transformation we are evolving our claims processes by transitioning from fragmented workflows to an enhanced level of operations using technological advancements enabled with AI features,” said Pascal Tanguay, SVP, Global Technology Services, Global Excel Management. “With Appian, our processes will be unified. From initial intake to adjudication, our advanced technology will reduce redundant tasks and lessen complexity for our team members. This ensures that our claims processes are consistent and completed more efficiently and accurately.”

Context gives agents a common vocabulary for business data

To support advanced agent capabilities, Appian is augmenting its industry-leading data fabric. Appian’s data fabric has been enhanced to provide a unified metadata model that gives agents clearer context about how information is structured and connected across systems.

Furthering its commitment to supporting industry-leading data platforms, Appian is launching a technology partnership with Snowflake. This unites Appian as the AI orchestration layer with Snowflake’s AI Data Cloud, combining data aggregation, model training, and process orchestration to enable immediate business value. Direct MCP-enabled integration between Appian data fabric and Snowflake equips agents with deep enterprise context, and allows them to interact directly with Snowflake Cortex AI to drive intelligent, data-backed decisions.

“Enterprises don’t need more AI experiments, they need AI that delivers real business outcomes on governed data,” said Baris Gultekin, Vice President of AI, Snowflake. “By combining Appian’s process orchestration and data fabric with the Snowflake AI Data Cloud, we’re bringing intelligence directly into the flow of work. Together, we enable secure, enterprise-grade AI where agents can access trusted data through Cortex AI, act with context, and drive measurable impact across the business.”

AI-assisted spec-driven development

AI-assisted development has revolutionized coding, but mission-critical work needs more than fast, cheap code. Appian puts structure around AI-assisted development. Without that structure, AI-generated code can introduce compliance issues and technical debt instead of business value.

Appian is introducing AI-assisted spec-driven development. AI extracts rich specifications from legacy applications to create a clear visual plan. This plan helps visualize the UI, data models and process flows for rapid and iterative operational improvements. AI developer agents, operating under human supervision, complete tasks according to specifications, accelerating delivery and reducing rework.

New developer MCP servers will allow organizations to use their choice of AI development tools, such as Claude Code or Kiro to build and update Appian applications. Appian will support a wide range of AI models, enabling teams to work in the environments they prefer.

Together, these enhancements will deliver the speed and developer productivity of AI-assisted development, with enterprise-grade control.

“Appian Composer, Agents and Appian MCP servers enable trusted agentic process orchestration and application modernization,” said Mike Beckley, Chief Technology Officer and Founder of Appian. “Composer complements Appian’s agentic orchestration and data fabric with new spec-driven development tools that are both conversational and iterative. Beneath the covers, Appian Composer is built on Appian’s new open MCP – a model-driven representation of your complete application estate—requirements, apps, data entities, logic, workflows, security/governance rules, integrations, and multi-object dependencies—now exposed as context for developers and agents to safely evolve and optimize.”

The advancements announced today were unveiled at Appian World 2026 and will be available in coming releases. Learn more at www.appian.com

About Appian

Appian provides process automation technology. We automate complex processes in large enterprises and governments. Our platform is known for its unique reliability and scale. We’ve been automating processes for 25 years and understand enterprise operations like no one else. For more information, visit appian.com. [Nasdaq: APPN]

Follow Appian: LinkedIn, Youtube, Instagram, Facebook, and X.

Logo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1488235/5943345/Appian_Caption_2700px_Logo.jpg

 

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/appian-advances-ai-in-process-to-deliver-enterprise-outcomes-at-scale-302756511.html

Continue Reading

Trending