By Johan BODINIER and Anna Peverieri
(Reuters) -Dassault Systemes on Tuesday announced a long-term partnership with Volkswagen to accelerate the German automaker’s transition towards vehicles that rely heavily on software to control and optimise key functions.
The French software group’s 3DEXPERIENCE platform was selected by Volkswagen as its main engineering and manufacturing platform, it said.
“Volkswagen selected us to standardise engineering and manufacturing for the entire group to accelerate time to market and the transition to software defined vehicles,” Dassault’s finance chief Rouven Bergmann said on a call with journalists.
Volkswagen could not immediately be contacted for comment.
As Dassault already provides its flagship platform to BMW, the Volkswagen deal will allow the French group to streamline its multiple fragmented systems in Germany, Bergmann said on a separate call with analysts, one of the few remaining markets where the 3DEXPERIENCE platform had not been widely implemented.
“This will accelerate the penetration of the auto supply chain, especially now that the sector is under pressure,” he said, adding that the recurring nature of the company’s contracts creates further growth potential.
Dassault’s shares were almost 8% higher at 1451 GMT, leading France’s mid-cap SBF 120 index and on track for their best day since December 2023.
Dassault did not disclose the original value of the deal with Volkswagen.
It is a full-subscription, recurring cloud-based contract, with an initial term of seven years and the option to extend for another ten, Bergmann said, adding that there were opportunities to add further value to the deal.
Bergmann said the deal’s impact on the group’s fourth-quarter results, announced on Tuesday, was “marginal”.
(Reporting by Anna Peverieri and Johan Bodinier in Gdansk; Editing by Milla Nissi, Kirsten Donovan)
