Exclusive: This is Volkswagen's new corporate start-up

The young company is called Cito. Gregor Stock, who is responsible for Mobility-as-a-Service at Volkswagen, among other things, will head the company. The project is due to be launched this summer.

Cito is the name of Volkswagen's latest corporate start-up, which means "in a hurry". The name, which is pronounced "Cito", is also the program in this case, as the new start-up is to be active in the field of courier services. According to information from Startbase, the VW Group's first spin-off in the field of "Transportation-as-a-Service" is set to launch in summer 2021.

The spin-off is part of the new strategy at Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles (VWN) to increasingly focus on "as-a-Service models". Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles has established a separate division for this purpose, which also includes other projects in addition to Cito. In February of this year, VWN had already presented a project for autonomous driving as part of the new strategy, which is due to be launched commercially in 2025. The MOIA ride-pooling service has already been on German roads for some time.

On Thursday, the Wolfsburg-based car manufacturer will present the start-up, whose logo is an orange "C", at the annual press conference of Volkswagen's commercial vehicle division. However, the Startbase radar has already tracked down the new company in the commercial register. It was registered with Volkswagen at the beginning of March with an address in Wolfsburg. According to the entry, the aim of the young start-up is the "development and operation of a digital courier service platform".

The financing comes from a Volkswagen fund

The CEO of the new corporate start-up will be Gregor Stock, a Volkswagen veteran. After studying mechanical and automotive engineering in Aachen, he joined Volkswagen in 2008, where he worked on autonomous driving, chassis control systems, the charging infrastructure for electric mobility and smart mobility, among other things. Since February 2020, he has been Project Manager for "Corporate Startups" at VWN.

Customers will be able to use the Cito platform to book time-critical transports or direct trips, track and document their shipment, among other things. Cito functions as a purely digital mediation platform and is aimed at corporate customers. Companies should be able to book a courier service within a minute, Cito will then find the right provider and bring the company and courier service together.

The idea for Cito came from two VW employees who now work as team members in the start-up. The young company is initially being financed by the Volkswagen Innovation Fund II and the Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles budget. Together with Porsche Consulting, the Cito team has developed the platform in recent weeks and has already tested it on the market. In addition to its potential as a platform, VWN hopes to be able to draw conclusions about the requirements for light commercial vehicles.