The automotive industry is facing a tremendous growth in the engineering of software-intensive systems, giving rise to various challenges. To prevent problems related to the fit of new software technologies in vehicles and the manufacturing processes, a well functioning interaction between the functions for product development and manufacturing is crucial. This is complicated by the fact that the changeable nature of software development causes unprecedented needs for collaboration and coordination between these two functions. This paper reports on a process assessment that focuses on the interface between the functions for product development and manufacturing in the development and design of software-intensive automotive systems. The main purpose of the study was to identify the key issues for improvement in the area assessed. The assessment was performed at two Swedish automotive companies where data were collected from documents and in interviews with practitioners. Nine key improvement issues were established ranging from challenges in requirements engineering to the need for knowledge transfer between manufacturing and product development. In addition, to increase the understandability of the results and map possible avenues for solution and future research, the paper provides an extensive analysis of each improvement issue in relation to the state-of-the-art.