Few factory executives have been as important to Toyota dealers over the last several years as Tim Bliss. 

In his role as general manager of retail transformation, Bliss, 48, has guided development, implementation and now expansion of the automaker’s SmartPath digital retailing system, as well as its Lexus counterpart, Monogram.

Toyota had begun development of SmartPath well before the COVID-19 pandemic altered the way many Americans buy vehicles. The first pilots were begun in 2019, with extensive dealer feedback key to its subsequent builds and expansions. As inventories shrank with production issues, SmartPath-enabled dealers were able to take advantage of the program’s ability to look deep into the logistics pipeline to sell vehicles well before they even arrived at the dealership, giving those dealers an edge. 

SmartPath and Monogram are now across more than 20 percent of Toyota Motor North America’s U.S. dealership network, and Bliss has been key to ramping up Toyota’s internal teams to cut down the lag times between a dealership signing up for the system and it getting installed. Bliss and his team have also pushed an expansion into dealerships’ fixed operations, where the system’s transparency and digital tools are helping retailers improve customer retention and satisfaction.

Bliss has been with Toyota Motor North America since joining Lexus in 2006, working in several jobs in its regional sales network until moving to the Toyota side in 2015.