Traton Group: R&D expenditure 2016-2023
In 2016, the Traton Group spent about 1.56 billion euros on research and development (R&D). Expenditure rose to 1.6 billion in 2018, but then proceeded to fall to 1.4 and 1.2 billion euros in 2019 and 2020 respectively. After this period of decline, R&D expenditure saw increases to record levels in 2023 with about 2.17 billion euros.
The brief period of decline in R&D expenditure in 2020 was in the midst of both the COVID-19 pandemic and global semiconductor shortages. It was not only the Traton Group that suffered such losses as the number of cars sold worldwide suffered a decline during that same period.