The Volkswagen Group is acquiring a 49% stake in diconium, strengthening its digital business capabilities. diconium will be a technology partner for the development of business models and digital added-value services in the nascent Volkswagen Automotive Cloud.

The completion of the participation transaction is still subject to approval by the anti-trust authorities.

diconium (formerly dmc), with headquarters in Stuttgart, was established in 1995 and is a leading specialist in the holistic development of digital business models. Its activities include strategy development and the design of the user experience (UX), as well as the implementation and operational realization of business ideas.

The proprietor-managed company has a total workforce of about 800 people working at locations in Germany, Portugal, the US and India. The core competences of diconium include the development of sales platforms for digital products and services as well as IT systems in customer management.

With diconium as a technology partner, the Volkswagen Group is taking the next step in its digitalization efforts. The objective is to offer customers digital value-added services quickly and easily for their vehicles, which will then be fully connected.

The Volkswagen brand has taken the lead within the Group and is developing the Volkswagen Automotive Cloud together with Microsoft—this will link the connected vehicle, the cloud-based platform and digital services.

At Volkswagen, we intend to expand our core business sustainably and to offer our customers more and more tailor-made digital value-added services in and around their vehicles. For this purpose, we are taking technology partners on board to assist us with development. Together, we will offer customers a wide and convenient range of services that they can use with their mobile devices or in their cars. With diconium, we have secured the support of a strong technology partner with substantial experience and considerable competence in the development of digital sales solutions.

—Christoph Hartung, Head of Digital & New Business / Mobility Services of the Volkswagen brand

Among other activities, Volkswagen and diconium intend to launch a global online sales platform allowing Volkswagen customers to purchase and manage all the upcoming “We” services and on-demand functions for their connected vehicles. The functions available will include multimedia streaming, automatic payment for fuel, battery charging and parking, and over-the-air updates.

Volkswagen will also cooperate with diconium on strengthening its digital business capabilities and implementing the items agreed in the recently signed dealer contracts. These provide for close cooperation between the manufacturer and dealers in the consistent digitalization of sales processes and vehicles. Together, Volkswagen and diconium will develop possible projects such as the provision of a software and platform landscape for modern customer and data management.