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December 18, 2002
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• Volkswagen sets up electronics and software development company

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Volkswagen sets up electronics and software development company

Carmeq GmbH headquarters in Berlin

Volkswagen AG has set up a subsidiary for electronics and software development in Berlin. Carmeq GmbH will commence business operations in the German capital with effect from 1 January 2003. The objective of the company is to develop software to further enhance the safety, comfort and quality of Volkswagen Group vehicles.

According to Dr. Karl-Thomas Neumann, Managing Director of Carmeq and Head of Electrics/Electronics Development at Volkswagen, "For us, Berlin was the first choice for setting up a new technology company." As he explained: "Proximity to gedas AG, IAV GmbH and other innovative businesses in the IT and software branch located in Berlin was a major factor in the decision-making process." Neumann added: "The support and encouragement of the enterprise authorities made the decision easy for us."

The name Carmeq is composed of the term "car" and the letters "m" for multimedia, "e" for embedded control and "q" for quality. Carmeq GmbH will develop software for various automotive uses, including the further development of on-board multimedia applications, software to enhance active road safety, programmes for active driver support, and vehicle service optimisation applications. The new technology company will make use of the latest software development and quality control tools.

Carmeq GmbH will start operating with a core team of 21. The team is characterised by interdisciplinary competence such as experience developing cockpit electronics for avionic applications. Over the medium term, it is planned to increase staff levels to as high as 200.

The objectives and organisation of Carmeq GmbH were identified in cooperation with consultants from industry and science; an expert committee will position developments in these areas in the company's activities at an early stage. Cooperation with the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Berlin Technical University will ensure close contact with science and research at university level.

The newly-established company represents a further electronics and software location for the Volkswagen Group to complement the Wolfsburg facility and the Electronic Research Lab in Sunnyvale/California. Carmeq GmbH will fit in well with the Volkswagen Group's global research and development network.

Software development is a key component of future automotive construction. Today, electronics already accounts for 90 percent of progress in Volkswagen Group vehicles (80 percent of this figure involves software developments). Market observers forecast that the automotive software market will quadruple over a ten-year period, rising from 25 billion Euro in 2000 to 100 billion Euro in 2010. Carmeq GmbH will be part of this growth. For the company, it is important to master the growing complexity of highly-integrated automotive networked systems. At the same time, the characteristics of short life cycle electronics and software developments must be adapted to the long life cycles of Volkswagen Group vehicles.

(December 11, 2002)