Key R&D figures

In fiscal year 2020, we filed 6,795 (7,614) patent applications worldwide for employee inventions, the majority of them in Germany. The fact that an ever-increasing share of these patents is for important cutting-edge fields underscores our Company’s innovative power. These fields include driver assistance systems, automation and connectivity as well as alternative drive systems.

The Automotive Division’s total research and development costs in the reporting period amounted to €13.9 (14.3) billion and were 2.9% lower than in the previous year; their percentage of the Automotive Division’s sales revenue – the R&D ratio – came to 7.6 (6.7)% due to the fall in sales revenue as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Along with new models, the focus was primarily on the electrification of our vehicle portfolio, a more efficient range of engines, digitalization and new technologies. The capitalization ratio was 46.6 (36.1)%. Research and development expenditure recognized in profit or loss in accordance with IFRSs decreased to €12.1 (13.2) billion.

As of December 31, 2020, our Research and Development departments – including the equity-accounted Chinese joint ventures – employed 53,268 people (−3.1%) Group-wide, corresponding to 8.0% of the total workforce.