Abstract The Verein der Deutschen Automobilindustrie (VDA) guidelines used for the interpretation of Automotive SPICE 3.1 contain many rules and recommendations and assessors apply them to check the consistency of ratings in an assessment. The VDA guidelines contain detailed procedures and templates to be used in planning, performing and reporting an assessment. However, an assessment is only a small part compared with the support and effort needed to implement improvements and to establish a company‐wide process improvement programme based on best practices. Whereas the VDA guidelines define the assessment process in detail, the ISO norm ISO/IEC 33014:2013 (Information technology—Process assessment—Guide for process improvement) defines a process improvement process. This paper analyses the ISO/IEC 33014:2013 norm and interprets it for the automotive sector and describes a state of the art improvement strategy typical of the automotive industry. Also, the SOQRATES group experiences about good and bad practices in implementing improvement programmes are shared and mapped onto the SPI manifesto principles. The paper concludes with a recommendation to add an improvement strategy‐related appendix to the VDA guidelines.