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 2021, BMW invested 6.299 billion euros in research and development, 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.
In the performance of the financial services business, BMW benefited from the high demand for new and used cars in the luxury car market, and the revenue of the financial services business increased significantly to 32.867 billion euros, an increase of 9.4% year-on-year, and the return on assets reached 22.6%.
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. (Text: Pacific Auto Network Yayong)