BMW to increase its spending on R&D in 2018

German automaker BMW will raise its spending more on research and development next year, to 6.5 to 7 percent of sales, finance chief Nicolas Peter informed Handelsblatt.

“That is a lot of money, in absolute numbers it’s around 7 billion euros ($8.3 bln), which is almost as much as we spent in 2011 and 2012 combined,” the newspaper quoted Peter as saying in an interview posted on Monday.

“Spending will stay high in 2019 as well,” Peter said.

Peter had shown previously this year that R&D costs would rise to deal with demand for lower emissions, electrified automobiles and autonomous driving innovation.

He stated at the time that R&D costs would represent about 6 percent of sales this year, up from 5.5 percent in last year.