With the automotive industry charging toward software- from hardware-defined vehicles, it’s now obvious that Volkswagen has not been able to keep up. In fact, it’s struggling to a great extent, particularly against Chinese brands like BYD.

Volkswagen used to be known for producing one of the sturdiest cars ever in the Beetle (known as the Type 1 then), and for creating some of the best engines. But the landscape is different now, with software features now as the biggest selling point.

In a bid to close the gap, the Volkswagen Group has strengthened its collaboration with CGI, one of the world’s largest business and IT consulting firms. Both companies have established a new entity, MARV1N (pronounced as “Marvin”), which will function as a development unit for group-wide digitalization projects at Volkswagen.

Along with this, Volkswagen is aiming for more efficient software development for new IT systems within the group. The VW Group is also pushing to modernize its IT system by next year, as well as clean up its domain with lesser but more scalable developments, which will reduce IT-related operating costs.

MARV1N should be beneficial for VW, with teams under the new entity dedicating its software expertise exclusively to projects within the VW Group. Furthermore, working closely will result in the shared knowledge of the processes and the software products.

To start with, MARV1N will be focusing on projects related to technical development at Volkswagen—a main area in the current digitalization charge in the group. By doing so, it can facilitate data-driven function development for new vehicle projects. An example of this would be a new cross-company IT system being designed to integrate data of all requirements related to electrical/electronic architecture and software functions—from pre-series development to after-sales service.

This central data management approach will likely bring about faster development times for software updates and new digital products (like Functions on Demand) to customers.

“For the development and production of modern products, we need modern IT systems,” said Hauke Stars, board member at Volkswagen Group for IT. “At the Volkswagen Group, we are therefore working on our system landscape of the future: powerful, cross-brand, and scalable. Our deepened collaboration with CGI is a further step to secure the increasing demand for software development performance in the Volkswagen Group.”

“Through this strategic partnership, we will further deepen our strong relationship with Volkswagen as we collaborate to accelerate Volkswagen Group’s business outcomes in line with its digitalization vision and strategy,” added CGI president and CEO Francois Boulanger. “As part of this new strategic partnership, our architects, developers, and consultants will deliver services and solutions grounded in both technology expertise and knowledge of manufacturing business processes. We look forward to bringing CGI’s proven best practices, global capabilities, and technology innovation to this new joint initiative.”