AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)08/09 Report--

Recently, the Nippon Industry News Agency released the results of a questionnaire survey on R & D investment of more than 200 Japanese enterprises in fiscal year 2019. According to the survey data, Toyota topped the list of R & D investment in fiscal year 2019 with 1.1 trillion yen in R & D investment. Honda took second place with 860 billion yen, while Nissan ranked third with 550 billion yen.

As the top of the R & D budget ranking in fiscal year 2019, Toyota has topped the list for 18 years in a row. Toyota's R & D investment budget reached 1.1 trillion yen (73.2 billion yuan) in fiscal 2019, up 4.9 percent from a year earlier, according to data. In the first half of this year, Toyota's global sales reached 5.311 million, up 2% from a year earlier, and its sales in China soared 12.2% to 689000. In the first half of the year, Toyota's operating income was 272.612 billion yuan, ranking second among the world's auto companies, and its operating profit exceeded that of Volkswagen Group, which had the first revenue, and became the most profitable car company in the world. Toyota said that in the future, it will reduce investment in traditional research and development, focusing on the "new four modernizations", so as to accelerate the realization of a diversified future mobile society.

Honda, in second place, invested 860 billion yen in research and development in fiscal 2019, up 4.9 per cent from a year earlier. From January to July, Honda sold a total of 861359 vehicles in the Chinese market, up 20.5 per cent from a year earlier. Honda sold 115950 vehicles in china in July, an increase of 9.4% compared with the same period last year, the best monthly terminal sales in July. In fact, Honda has been increasing its investment in R & D in recent years, even after net profit plunged 42.4 per cent in fiscal 2018, its R & D funding is still as high as 806.9 billion yen, an increase of 7.3 per cent compared with fiscal year 2017. Honda's explanation is that its company increases its R & D budget in order to expand its business to meet the needs of the future market.

As for Nissan, which is also one of the top three in Japan, its R & D investment in fiscal 2019 was 550 billion yen, ranking third in the R & D investment list. In the first half of the year, Nissan sold 532105 vehicles in china, a year-on-year increase of 0.3%, which is pitiful compared with Toyota and Honda. Due to sluggish global sales, Nissan's revenue in fiscal 2018 was only 1.157 billion yen (70 million yuan), down 3.2% from a year earlier. Net profit fell to 319.1 billion yen (20.06 billion yen), down 57.3% from a year earlier. But despite the collapse in profits, Nissan's investment in research and development remains relentless, accounting for 4.8 per cent of revenue in fiscal 2019, up 5.1 per cent from a year earlier.

Generally speaking, in the current era of "new four modernizations" of automobile network connection, intelligence, sharing and electrification, the major automobile enterprises can only continue to increase their R & D investment in order not to be left behind by the times. Toyota, Honda and Nissan, as the three major car companies in Japan, are no exception. While accelerating product innovation, they are also increasing their own investment in advanced technologies such as electrification and self-driving in order to maintain their competitiveness in the future.

Welcome to subscribe to the WeChat public account "Automotive Industry Focus" to get the first-hand insider information on the automotive industry and talk about things in the automotive circle. Welcome to break the news! WeChat ID autoWechat