ŠKODA AUTO and Etnetera Group establish software joint venture

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Mladá Boleslav, 6 January 2022 – ŠKODA AUTO is establishing a jointventure with the Prague-based IT holding Etnetera Group. By combining expertiseand agile methods of development, the car manufacturer is pressing ahead withits digitalisation strategy. The aim is to optimise the user experience forŠKODA customers and to deliver next-generation software for the era ofelectromobility. The new joint venture Green:Codewill be recruiting up to 200 developers, software architects, businessanalysts, UX/UI designers and testers over the coming years.

Christian Schenk, ŠKODA AUTO Board Member for Finance and IT, explains,”The foundation of Green:Code together with our partner Etnetera Group is afurther step in the implementation of the NEXT LEVEL – ŠKODA STRATEGY 2030.Together with the strong software resources from the Volkswagen Group,Green:Code will help to create modern simply clever solutions and increase thespeed of digitalization.”

 

Karsten Schnake, ŠKODA AUTO Board Member for Purchasing, emphasises,”In the Czech Republic, we have a vivid market of young and innovative ITcompanies. Combining the strength and industry know-how of ŠKODA AUTO with thesoftware expertise of Etnetera Group will be beneficial for both parties. I amconvinced that we will achieve our goal through this strategic partnership.”

KlausBlüm, Head of ŠKODA IT, says, “ŠKODA AUTO has been working successfully withEtnetera Group for many years. Together, we have developed our smartphoneapps MyŠKODA and ŠKODA Plus, for example. Now we are taking our partnership tothe next level with the Green:Code joint venture. ŠKODA AUTO will benefit fromEtnetera’s expertise, speed and performance quality. Our goal is to make ourproducts even more user-friendly and our internal processes more efficient. Weare looking forward to further push ŠKODA AUTO’s targets of digitalization.”

 

Martin Palička, Etnetera Group CEO, adds,“The joint venture with ŠKODA AUTO completes our almost 15-year cooperation onprojects, which have fundamentally influenced the current form ofdigitalization of ŠKODA cars. Our further common ambition will be to combineour agile methods and company culture with corporate environment and tocontinue developing software solutions and applications that connect the carand its drivers with a perfect ecosystem of digital tools.”

 

Aspart of its NEXT LEVEL – ŠKODA STRATEGY 2030, ŠKODA AUTO is intensifying thedigital transformation throughout the company and stepping up its efforts inthe areas of Industry 4.0 and vehicle connectivity. Green:Code provides theCzech car manufacturer with vital expertise to develop the best automotivesoftware for its ecosystem of vehicles, mobile apps and web portals. This willenable ŠKODA AUTO to offer its customers a ‘Simply Clever User Experience’.

 

Green:Codewill start its initial development work and implementations from the beginningof this year. The new joint venture will be based at Prague and will be hiringup to 200 IT experts over the next few years. Most of these will be developers,software architects, business analysts, UX/UI designers and testers. Themanagement of Green:Code will be shared between the two founding companies: fromŠKODA AUTO managing director Marian Pavlík, working for the Volkswagen Groupfor more than 20 years in IT management positions and managingdirector Václav Bittner, one of the co-founders of Etnetera Group.