Spotlight 12 November 2026 ǁǁǁ͘ ĂŌĞƌŵĂƌŬĞƚŽŶůŝŶĞ͘ ŶĞƚ workarounds. Keeping it means the official route is also the practical one. CC: As vehicles become more software-driven and electronically complex, do you think access to official OEM repair and diagnostic information is becoming more important for independent workshops? LS: Yes, and the trend only runs in one direction. The more a repair depends on software versions, control unit states and guided fault-finding, the less can be worked out from experience alone. Official manufacturer information stops being a convenience. It becomes the precondition for doing the job at all. That is why the route to it has to be dependable. And erWin is one part of a bigger picture. Volkswagen Group Info Services AG is the Volkswagen Group’s central interface for vehicle data. We bring information from across the Group’s brands together and make it available to third parties, from fleet operators and service providers to independent workshops. One contract, one system, one point of contact. The new erWin applies exactly that principle to the workshop with one access point instead of eight. As vehicles generate more data, simple and reliable access matters more, not less. That is the job we have set ourselves. CC: Where does ODIS fit into the new erWin proposition, and what does an independent garage need in terms of equipment, licences and registration to make effective use of Volkswagen Group diagnostic information? LS: Diagnostics with ODIS is one of the two categories live in the portal today, alongside repair and maintenance. However, for Lamborghini, erWin covers diagnostic information only. Three things need to be in place. The company needs a One Business ID, and its users added to that account. The working context needs to be stored in the workshop profile under My erWin > My profile. And it needs ODIS installed. The working context is where garages most often lose time, so it is worth being precise. If you already work with ODIS, you apply for nothing new: the number is on your Group Retail Portal account, top left. It combines the 3-digit country code, your 5-digit partner number and a brand letter, so a UK workshop’s Volkswagen context reads GBR12345V. You hold one per brand. Use the current number from the Group Retail Portal, not the old one from the previous erWin. If you have not worked with ODIS before, you may not have a partner number yet so ask your importer for one now, for each brand you want to work on. As soon as you have it, you can store your working context in the portal and start using ODIS in the new erWin. One piece of practical advice is to install ODIS before you buy the licence. The licence period starts the moment you purchase, so setup time should not come out of it. CC: Security-related vehicle functions are becoming an increasingly important part of diagnostics and repair. How does the new erWin handle access to security-sensitive information and functions, and what additional requirements might workshops encounter? LS: Much as before. Security-relevant repair and maintenance functions run through our diagnostic software, ODIS Service. What a workshop needs to access them depends on the market. In the EU, where the SERMI scheme is mandatory, workshops need SERMI accreditation and the app that validates it while working in ODIS Service. In the UK, SERMI is voluntary, and the Volkswagen Group does not use it there. Instead, UK workshops get access to security-related functions through the Group’s established GeKo process for security and component protection, which runs via the UK importer. The importer then enables the corresponding authorisations on the workshop’s working context in the Group Retail Portal. The process is the same for all brands, and nothing has changed for UK workshops compared with the previous erWin. The steps are described on the erWin portal. CC: Manufacturers often talk about making technical information easier to access, while workshops tell us that gaining access to OEM systems is becoming more complicated. Do you recognise that concern, and how does the new erWin address it? LS: I understand the concern, and I take it seriously. Getting into OEM systems takes more steps than it did a few years ago, and for a small workshop every one of them comes out of billable time. Some of that is unavoidable, as a lot of what sits behind these systems touches safety- and security-relevant functions, and knowing who is behind an account is not bureaucracy for its own sake. What we can influence is how often you have to go through it. In the new erWin the company registers once, and the working context is stored once in the profile. Making access easier stays on our list, and what we hear back from workshops tells us where to look next. CC: What commitment can Volkswagen Group give independent repairers that they will continue to have access to the information, diagnostic functions and technical resources they need to repair newer Volkswagen Group vehicles on comparable terms to the authorised network? LS: Independent workshops get the official Volkswagen Group repair, maintenance and diagnostic information through erWin, across the Group’s brands. That is how it works today. The new erWin was built to make that route simpler, not narrower. Our job is to make the experience on that official route as good and seamless as possible for independent workshops. drivesomethinggreater.com/erwininfo/ transition
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