How creating Brazil’s first smart car kickstarted a new customer strategy
Volkswagen (VW) is one of the largest car makers globally, and currently the largest car producer in Brazil with over 25 million cars manufactured, 4 million exported from factories in the country and 15,000 people employed.
Volkswagen Brazil recognised the need for smarter, more advanced vehicles to keep pace with the market’s digital and technological transformation. To develop an innovative smart car for Brazilian customers, it was crucial to understand what they valued about their vehicle experience so Volkswagen could tailor technology solutions to meet those needs.
Together with Volkswagen Brazil, our Thoughtworks team designed a project to discover the pains, needs and desires of Brazilian drivers using design methodologies. We used these discoveries to create an innovation strategy for intelligent, user-centric Volkswagen vehicles.
"Volkswagen is well recognized for its value-led culture based on quality and innovation. We are very excited to collaborate again with Volkswagen on bolstering and enhancing the innovation process for creating extraordinary smart car experiences powered by strategic design.”
Cristiane Higashi
VP of Customer Experience, Product and Design VP for Americas, Thoughtworks
Understanding Brazilian drivers’ needs
The first step was to understand the needs and desires of Brazilian drivers. Over a period of 6 months, we helped Volkswagen by:
consumer interviews conducted in 9 states
VW executive interviews conducted
cars tested in Brazil and the U.S
Often, inside the office, we think users will find something amazing. But the reality is that until we properly test a product, we don't really know users’ needs and which problems are worth solving.
Developing the strategy
From the insights gathered, we co-created a strategy to develop service components for user needs. This strategy aimed to position Volkswagen as the benchmark in automotive intelligence, technology and connectivity.
Through our field research, we conducted the following activities:
Empathy mapping
Ideation
Experimentation
Hypothesis testing with users
We used an iterative process of devising and testing solutions for the national market, testing each one with Volkswagen drivers and identifying features that would be most valuable to the consumer. By doing so, our innovation strategy cut the margin for error in production development by only moving forward with customer-centric solutions.
The field research, talking to real users, experiencing a reality different from ours, this is very rich. These tools were fundamental to bring the solution and trace the correct direction for the product.
De-risking execution
We delivered a 5-year innovation roadmap detailing the launch of 15 new service components into Volkswagen cars. Each component was tested for relevance with real customers and technical feasibility with engineers.
This enabled us to create innovative products that meet the real needs of society regarding urban mobility.
The results:
VW Play
Thoughtworks supported Volkswagen in developing various solutions for the brand's new infotainment system, launched in 2020. This multimedia center marked a new era in connectivity, streaming and services within Volkswagen vehicles, also functioning as a marketplace for services and applications.
VW Nivus
VW Play debuted in the VW Nivus, one of the most awarded Brazilian cars of 2020, including being named "Best Buy" by Quatro Rodas magazine that year. Now exported worldwide, the Nivus, along with the VW T-Cross, put Volkswagen at the top of compact SUV sales in Brazil and Argentina in 2021, selling over 100,000 units in both countries.
VW Play and VW Nivus remain core products for Volkswagen, encouraging high sales while reinforcing Volkswagen’s brand reputation as a market leader in automotive technology.
A customer-centric approach to the future
VW Play and VW Nivus remain core products for Volkswagen, encouraging high sales while reinforcing Volkswagen’s brand reputation as a market leader in automotive technology. But more than creating a single solution, this project was about rethinking product development with a customer-centric approach.
Realizing that drivers did not use the vehicle's features as imagined during testing fundamentally changed Volkswagen’s innovation strategy, which is now always grounded in the true needs of its consumers – through validated tests with real people.
This customer-centric approach has established Volkswagen’s innovative leadership in the automotive industry and ensured that their vehicles will continue to surpass driver expectations.
During our prototyping with Thoughtworks, we saw that there was not just one solution, but several concepts that needed to work harmoniously to create a unique and seamless experience for our customers.
