Volvo sells controlling stake in WirelessCar connected vehicle services

20 December 2018

Volvo has signed an agreement to divest 75.1% of the shares in its wholly-owned subsidiary WirelessCar to Volkswagen Group (VW).

The business provides connected vehicle services and solutions to global producers of passenger cars. Volvo has sold the stake for around €107 million, a figure that will result in a positive impact on operating income of around €146 million. The closing of the transaction is expected during the first half of 2019.

′We are committed to remaining the leader within the field of connectivity and connected services. This agreement will enable us to fully focus our resources and efforts on connected solutions for commercial vehicles,’ says Jan Gurander, Deputy CEO of the Volvo Group.

WirelessCar has over three million active connected cars across the globe and revenues for 2018 are expected to reach approximately €49 million. WirelessCar is based in Gothenburg, Sweden, with offices in USA and China.

VW Group is using WirelessCar’s connectivity technology to drive the development of the digital ecosystem, where the Volkswagen brand is spearheading development for the Group in cooperation with technology partners. The goal is to provide full connectivity in future vehicle generations and develop value-added services for customers that they can access via the Volkswagen Automotive Cloud. WirelessCar joins Microsoft and diconium as the third major technology partner involved.

Volkswagen is developing the cloud-based platform together with Microsoft and designing a customizable marketing platform (service platform) for all digital services with diconium. More specifically, WirelessCar technology will enable safe and stable data exchange between the vehicle’s operating system and the cloud-based platform, and forming an essential basis for the future software architecture in the vehicle (Device Platform).

′We aim to develop the Volkswagen into a mobility provider with a fully-connected fleet’, Christoph Hartung, Head of Digital & New Business / Mobility Services at the Volkswagen brand, commented. ′Our customers will be able to use digital value-added services in their cars or on their mobile devices at all times. We are switching up a gear with this development and have gained WirelessCar as the third major partner. We are now really stepping on the gas and focusing on integrating the technologies.’

Martin Rosell, CEO of WirelessCar, said: ′Volkswagen is our ideal partner for the next stage in our development. Volkswagen has the most ambitious future strategy for connectivity in the automotive industry. This aspiration is the perfect match for our vision to lead the automotive industry into the digital society. We are highly motivated and willing to play our part to make a difference.’