The US DMS and systems provider Reynolds and Reynolds Company has announced the acquisition of Incadea AG, the privately owned German provider of global automotive retailing software solutions. With Incadea, Reynolds plans to significantly extend its global range by adding the company's international software platform to its portfolio of automotive retailing solutions. As part of this action, Reynolds is expanding its existing strategic alliance with Microsoft. Reynolds and Microsoft will market the incadea.engine platform, based on Microsoft Navision, worldwide.

Incadea operations will remain based in Raubling, German. All Incadea employees will be retained. Reynolds will also continue Incadea's partner-based distribution model in international markets.

Lloyd "Buzz" Waterhouse, Reynolds CEO, chairman and president, said, "Reynolds is today making an aggressive, game-changing move within the global automotive retailing marketplace by forming a new global business unit, acquiring Incadea and expanding its strategic alliance with Microsoft. None of our competitors can match the combination of technology, solutions, automotive retailing experience and global capability that will be delivered by the combination of Reynolds, Incadea and Microsoft."

The Incadea platform is described as 'a unique, industry-first solution for automotive retailing'. Based on Microsoft Windows and Navision enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, it is supported by Microsoft and a multi-continent network of partners who customise it with country-specific layers. The platform can be localised and deployed across multiple countries and languages.