1.1 mega-bucks an hour
Toyota invests seven-figure sum every hour on research and developmentOver $1million an hour is being spent to build the car of the future. As world leaders meet in Copehagen to discuss the environment, a new report has revealed just how much is being spent developing leaner and greener cars.
While the car continues to cop a bad rap from environmentalists it turns out it is the car companies that are spending plenty of money trying to do a better job. A management consultancy firm has issued a report outlining the top-spending companies in the field of research and development (R&D) and it turns out the automakers are some of the leading players.
Booz and Company's Global Innovation 1000 report has found that five of the top 20 publicly listed companies investing in R&D were from the automotive industry. Toyota has topped the list for the past three years, spending US$9 billion a year, which converts to AUD$1.1 million an hour. That's a global spend, of course.
The other car companies in the top five were General Motors, Ford, Honda and Volkswagen. Both the American corporations are spending relatively less on R&D this year, according to the report, which last year listed GM in second place and Ford in 6th. This year, GM has slipped to 5th and Ford has dropped back to 8th. By comparison, Honda remains in 16th, where it was last year, and Volkswagen has actually moved up, from 19th last year to 17th.
"Innovation has become central to every company's efforts to compete, and the degree of competition has been in no sense reduced by the downturn; if anything, it has been heightened," write the report's authors.
"Long product-development cycles have forced companies to maintain their R&D spending even when revenues decline.
"Most companies are fully aware of the need to be in position to profit from the coming upturn."
If anything, the reduction in spending on R&D by the likes of GM and Ford shows just how far those two firms -- once unassailable -- have fallen.
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