Impel, a provider of artificial intelligence-powered customer lifecycle management for the automotive industry, announced an integration with WhatsApp as a communication channel for Impel AI to enhance its omnichannel capabilities.

In addition to webchat, email and SMS texting, auto retailers using Impel’s AI platform can now deliver personalized experiences and engage in humanlike conversations with consumers who prefer WhatsApp as their primary channel of communication, the company said.

The integration is the latest for Impel, following collaborations with Tekion, CDK Global, ACV Auctions and Cox Automotive Australia.

WhatsApp is one of the most popular consumer messaging apps around the world, with 2 billion monthly active users as of April. In Europe, WhatsApp said its penetration rates are well above 70% and as high as 97% in several countries, including the U.K., Italy, Germany, Spain, Switzerland and Austria.

In the U.S., WhatsApp said it reached 43% penetration this year, with 59% of those users opening the app daily.

Impel said its worldwide presence in 53 countries positions it to effectively leverage WhatsApp’s global scale with dealers and consumers.

With the addition of WhatsApp, the company said, global automotive retailers using Impel AI will be able to engage with more consumers in their communication channel of choice.

The integration supports all Impel AI capabilities, including CRM integration, appointment setting, automated handling of inventory, trade-in and financing questions, pre-qualification of leads, and more.

“AI is quickly becoming indispensable to automotive retailers and OEMs looking to deliver a consistently exceptional customer experience at scale efficiently,” Impel CEO and co-founder Devin Daly said. “A critical driver of dealership success is the ability to communicate with shoppers and customers in their channel of choice.

“As the de facto standard for enterprise-grade automotive AI, adding WhatsApp was a natural extension of our omnichannel capabilities. By pairing Impel’s generative conversational AI technology with WhatsApp messaging, we’re enabling dealers to deliver compelling experiences throughout the customer journey across more channels than ever before.”