Annual Report 2019

In the context of our strategy of strengthening our core business and with the transformation of the automotive industry, we aim to make good use of the opportunities presented by the global automotive markets. In this context, we always focus on the dynamically changing wishes of our customers. We therefore aim to play a major role in shaping the fundamental technological change taking place in the automotive industry. This applies in particular to the electrification of our product range and the digital connectivity of our products and processes at all stages of the value chain. Achieving this goal will continue to require substantial investments in innovative products and new technologies, as well as in the expansion of our worldwide production network. In 2019, our investments in property, plant and equipment – as already announced in Annual Report 2018 – once again reached the very high level of €7.2 billion (2018: €7.5 billion).

At December 31, 2019, financial obligations of €3.7 billion exist in connection with future investments in property, plant and equipment (2018: €4.3 billion).

At Mercedes-Benz Cars, investments in property, plant and equipment remained at the very high level of €5.6 billion in 2019 (2018: €5.7 billion), primarily due to the ongoing product offensive. The most important projects included the successor generation of the current C-Class and the product ramp-up of the new GLE sports utility vehicle. We also made substantial investments in the reorganization of our German production facilities as competence centers, in the expansion of our international production network, and in the worldwide production network for electric mobility. The main areas of investment at Daimler Trucks in 2019 were successor generations for existing products, new products, global component projects and the optimization of the worldwide production and sales network. Total investment in property, plant and equipment at Daimler Trucks amounted to €1.0 billion (2018: €1.1 billion). At the Mercedes-Benz Vans division, the focus of investment was on the further electrification of the Sprinter, Vito and V-Class model series. The main investments at Daimler Buses last year were in new products and the modernization of the production network.

Furthermore, we capitalized development costs of €3.1 billion in 2019 (2018: €2.5 billion); this is presented under intangible assets in Note 10 of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

B.31 Investment in property, plant and equipment by division