BMW plans to raise further its spending on research and development next year to 6.5% to 7% of sales, its finance chief has said.
According to Reuters, Nicolas Peter told German newspaper Handelsblatt: "That is a lot of money, in absolute numbers it's around EUR7bn which is nearly as much as we spent in 2011 and 2012 combined."
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"Spending will remain high in 2019 as well," he said in an interview.
Reuters noted Peter had already indicated earlier this year that R&D spending would rise to cope with demand for lower emissions, electrified cars and autonomous driving technology.
He said then R&D spending would account for about 6% of sales this year, up from 5.5% in 2016.
In other BMW financial news, SGL Carbon is acquiring the group's 49% equity investment in the joint ventures SGL Automotive Carbon Fibres (Germany) and SGL Automotive Carbon Fibres LLC (US) – together referred to as SGL ACF.
Once the deal has been completed, SGL Group will be the sole owner of SGL ACF.
