Mercedes 2015 Annual Report Download - page 114

B | COMBINED MANAGEMENT REPORT | EVENTS AFTER THE REPORTING PERIOD 121
We want our shareholders to participate appropriately in the
earnings achieved by Daimler in 2015. At the Annual Share-
holders’ Meeting on April 6, 2016, the Board of Management
and the Supervisory Board will therefore propose an increase
in the dividend to €3.25 per share (prior year: €2.45). With this
decision, we are also expressing our confidence about the
ongoing course of business. The dividend distribution will thus
rise to €3.5 billion (prior year €2.6 billion), which is by a large
margin the highest amount paid out in the Company’s history.
The generally very positive business development strengthens
our financial basis on a broad front and thus improves our
ability to invest substantial amounts to secure our successful
future and to finance those investments from our own resources.
In the year under review, we invested more than €13 billion in
property, plant and equipment, associated companies and joint
ventures, research and development for new products, new
technologies and digitization, and the expansion of our global
production network. And even higher amounts are planned
for the coming years.
The high levels of research and development expenditure
in recent years are already paying off. This is shown not only
by our current business development, but also by the fact
that we are playing a pioneering role in key technologies that
are crucial for the future of individual mobility. This applies
to powertrain technology, traffic safety and digital connectivity,
and in particular also to autonomous driving. Two milestones
were the research vehicles F 015 Luxury in Motion and Vision
Tokyo in the area of passenger cars. In the area of trucks,
we have official approval in both the United States and Germany
for road tests of our Highway Pilots. E pages 10 f The com-
ponents from our research and test vehicles are gradually being
applied in series production. Partially autonomous driving is
therefore already reality for our cars and our trucks. And we will
go one step further with the new E-Class, which will be
launched in the spring.
We once again demonstrated our technology leadership in 2015
in the fields of fuel efficiency, safety and vehicle connectivity.
With innovative powertrains and highly economical model
versions, we reduced the average CO2 emissions of the cars
we sell in the European Union to 123 grams per kilometer.
We thus achieved the goal we had set of 125 g/km by 2016
ahead of time. This was due in particular to our highly efficient
new models as well as our first four plug-in hybrids.
E pages 12 f
A key element of our growth strategy is the systematic digi-
tization of our products and processes – in all divisions,
along the entire value chain and with a focus on the customer.
The intelligent networking of the entire value chain enables
us to shorten the development processes and to make production
processes more flexible and marketing and sales processes
more direct. New patterns of thought and action are required
for the digital transformation at the Group. Our goal is to
combine the speed and risk culture of the digital industry with
Daimler’s perfection and innovative strength.
We are extremely well positioned for the upcoming challenges
with our growth strategies, our digitization offensive and the high
levels of investment in the future of the Group. We are on a
stable growth path, which we will continue to follow system-
atically. We therefore look to the coming years with great
confidence and continue to aim for further profitable growth.
Events after the
Reporting Period
In February 2016, Daimler AG announced a recall of vehicles
for precautionary reasons due to defective airbags from the
manufacturer Takata. The resulting expense of €0.3 billion has
been recognized in the consolidated financial statements for
the year 2015.
Since the end of the 2015 financial year, there have been no
further occurrences that are of major significance for Daimler.
The course of business in the first weeks of 2016 confirms
the statements made in the “Outlook” section of this Annual
Report.