Mercedes 2006 Annual Report Download - page 94

Capital expenditure
During the planning period of 2007 through 2009, DaimlerChrysler
expects to invest a total of €17.5 billion in property, plant and
equipment. Rising capital expenditure at the Mercedes Car Group
will be offset by decreasing investment budgets at the Chrysler
Group, the Truck Group and the Vans unit. At the Mercedes Car
Group, the focus of investment will be on advance expenditure
for new vehicles such as the E-Class successor model and the new
sport-utility vehicle based on the C-Class. The key area of
investment at the Chrysler Group will be for the ongoing modern-
ization of its plants and the continuation of the product offensive.
The flexibilization of production and standardization of vehicle
architectures on model changeovers, that has meanwhile been
achieved has already led to substantial savings. Therefore it
will be possible to reduce the Chrysler Group’s investment budget
during the planning period. At the Truck Group, the focus is on
capital expenditure in connection with the new modular platform
for heavy and medium trucks and a new family of engines for
trucks. Since the launch of the new Sprinter has largely completed
the Vans unit’s phase of model renewal, capital expenditure
at Vans will be significantly reduced during the planning period,
while at Buses there will be increased investment in plant
modernization and the European sales organization.
Research and development
In the context of implementing the new management model, we
merged the Corporate Research department and the Mercedes
Car Group’s product development departments to form the new
Board of Management department “Group Research and Devel-
opment Mercedes Car Group”. With this change, we have more
closely integrated our research, predevelopment and develop-
ment activities, and effectively focused them on the development
of the final products. The new department continues to function
as a research competence center for the entire Group, but is
assuming more responsibility for the predevelopment activities
of all our automotive divisions. In this way, we will safeguard our
innovative expertise for the future and will be able to convert
it into marketable products more quickly.
This new organization will enable us to apply our research and
development expenditure more efficiently in the coming years.
We are optimizing work processes and focusing on those pro-
jects that create the most added value for our customers. We will
increasingly utilize the possibilities of modularization and stan-
dardization wherever this is compatible with the identity of our
brands. We intend to reduce the number of vehicle architectures
in the coming years, but will significantly increase the number of
model versions based on a shared architecture. This strategy
will allow us to continue to offer a wide range of attractive new
models, while further enhancing the quality of our products
and achieving substantial savings with regard to material and
development costs.
By further developing drive technologies and making increased
use of lightweight components, we will make automobiles
even more efficient, cleaner and more economical, thus reducing
emissions, including carbon dioxide.
78
Mercedes Car Group 7.7
Chrysler Group 4.2
Truck Group 3.2
Van, Bus, Other 1.1
Research and development expenditure 2007-2009
(in billions of €)
DaimlerChrysler Group 16.2
In billions of € 1
Investments in property, plant and equipment
17.5
7.2
6.8
2.7
0.04
0.8
5.9
1.7
2.9
0.9
0.03
0.4
2006 2007–2009
Mercedes Car Group 7.2
Chrysler Group 6.8
Truck Group 2.7
Financial Services 0.04
Van, Bus, Other 0.8
Investments in property, plant and equipment 2007-2009
(in billions of €)
DaimlerChrysler Group 17.5
DaimlerChrysler Group
Mercedes Car Group
Chrysler Group
Truck Group
Financial Services
Van, Bus, Other
1 Figures for 2006 according to US GAAP, as of 2007 according to IFRS