Recently, BMW Group released financial data for 2021, and its annual revenue, pre-tax income and net profit and other financial indicators hit a record high. At the same time, the BMW Group has also successfully achieved its goals in related fields such as sustainable development: among them, the sales volume of new energy products of the BMW Group has soared to 13% of the total global sales volume in 2021, and its profitability has been greatly enhanced.
For the full year of 2021, the BMW Group delivered 2521514 vehicles worldwide, an increase of 8.4% year-on-year; of which new energy vehicles accounted for 13%, reaching 328314 units. Total Group revenue amounted to EUR 111,239 million, representing an increase of 12.4% year-on-year. Group pre-tax income grew strongly to an all-time high of €16.06 billion, up 207.5% year-on-year. The Group's net profit also set a record high of EUR 12,463 million, an increase of 223.1% year-on-year. The profit to be distributed to shareholders amounted to 3,827 million euros, a record level of dividends per share.
In order to provide a technological impetus for corporate transformation, the BMW Group has maintained high investment in research and development for many years. In 2021, its total investment in research and development amounted to 6.299 billion euros, an increase of 10.7% over the previous year. R&D investment in 2021 will be mainly in areas related to new vehicle architectures and electric product offensives, as well as digital products and autonomous driving research and development.
In the context of strong market demand, thanks to more reasonable pricing and a sound product array, the bmw group's automotive business revenue climbed sharply to 95.476 billion euros in 2021, an increase of 18.1% year-on-year. EBIT margin reached 10.3%. The automotive business's contribution to free cash flow reached EUR 6,354 million at the end of the year, an increase of 87.2% year-on-year.
Sustainability is at the heart of the BMW Group's corporate strategy. The Company will release its 2021 Group Financial Report on March 16 and will incorporate sustainability results into the Group's financial results in accordance with the requirements of the Sustainable Accounting Standards Board (SASB).
In 2021, the BMW Group's financial services business performed well. Revenue from the financial services business increased significantly to EUR 32,867 million, up 9.4% year-on-year, with a return on assets of 22.6%, driven by high demand for new and used cars in the luxury car market.
BMW Motorcycle delivered 194261 products to customers last year, up 14.8% year-on-year. Revenue from the motorcycle business increased by 20.3 percent to EUR 2,748 million and profit margin before taxes (EBIT) was 8.3 percent.