On these, and other forums, I've read criticism that Toyota has greatly cut back R&D spending and that they need to spend more on R&D.

Well ladies and gentlemen, here are the facts.

The following are the latest numbers that are based on R&D spending in 2008, as 2009 numbers won't be available for months.

The numbers are based on a currency exchange rate from January 31st, 2008. This was a rate of roughly 1.39, Euro-to-US currency.

http://iri.jrc.ec.europa.eu/research...board_2009.htm





As you can see, Toyota was the #1 R&D investor in the world among companies. Using the given exchange rate, that means Toyota in 2008 spent about 10.58 billion USD on R&D.

This is the first time ever that Toyota is the world's top R&D spender.

You can see most of the major automakers in the Top 50 R&D investors. Notably absent from the Top 50 are Fiat and Hyundai.

Also notably we see Panasonic and Denso in the Top 50. Toyota owns a 23% stake of Denso, and Denso is part of the Toyota Group. Toyota also has very close ties with Panasonic.

In this case then, Toyota's actual R&D spending including all group and subsidiary companies is quite a bit higher than indicated here.

Other automakers on the list also have subsidiary and group companies, but their R&D spending is quite minor in comparison.

Chrysler is not listed anywhere separately, but the demerger of Daimler and Chrysler was not fully complete until 2009. The documents in this case clearly state Daimler's number excludes Chrysler. I can only assume some sort of accounting methods must account for the lack of Chrysler numbers. Regardless, one can assume they were quite minimal.

Looking at the 2nd table you can see some short-term trends. Compared to 2007, Hyundai stayed relatively flat and GM, Ford, Nissan all had slight drops in spending for 2008. Daimler, BMW, and Renault all decreased in R&D spending.

Notably, Toyota, VW, Honda, Peugeot, and Fiat all increased in R&D spending.

Also notable is Hyundai. Despite Hyundai's worldwide marketshare in the auto industry, they spent by far the least amount on R&D among the major automakers. Converted into USD, Hyundai spent 1.74 billion in 2008.

This is some food for thought in terms of who are the innovators, and who are the imitators in the auto industry. While increased R&D spending does not guarantee increased innovation, it is generally a good sign of innovation.

 

Thanks for the posts. this should be a sticky

 

Who said Toyota doesn't do R&D?

Those who complained about Toyota didn't complain about spending money on R&D. It's how and where they allocated the money. From the mid/late 90s to ~2005, Toyota produced very high quality products, but they also lacked the looks, performance, etc. Nowadays, it's the reverse. Toyotas are not as bland, and they are damn good in engine designs, but many models do not have the same quality of the past.

It's good to see everyone spending more money through. Hopefully they can balance the budget without cost cutting anything else.

 

Interesting. Not sure how relevant this all is but it's interesting.

 

Quite a few people on various forums, including some very people on CL, (I won't name any names, but some of them are the usual suspects and critics, who likely won't show up in this thread) have claimed Toyota has cut R&D spending, which clearly you can see is not true.

In fact, for the last several years Toyota has consecutively kept increasing R&D spending.

Even in 2008, during a bad economy Toyota increased R&D spending regardless.

The full fruits of Toyota's increased R&D labor won't be seen until 2012/2013 models at the earliest.

 

Very interesting, and thanks for clearing that up! I have read lately about the aviation industry and certain big players adjusting their R&D. These companies must innovate to survive.

 

you can see fruits of the labour in things like HSD and Valvetronic already.

 

WOW I am impressed. Thats good to know. GM is number 5. I dont think they spent the money wisely

 

Impressive numbers, not a company that is standing still.

 

Good to know but maybe they should spend 0.0001% of that R&D money into designing flawless acceleration pedals.

 

it is pretty sad to know that so many drug companies do not commit themselves to developing new drugs. Bayer, Merck, Pfizer...I am talking to you!

 

Why would they spend more? They just buy Toyota designed parts from Toyota suppliers.

 

I thought Lockheed would be #1. I guess its also the EU report and not one that's US based.
Well I guess this chart would explain why the newer Toyota motors (V6 lineup) its quite decent as well as their I4's.

 

Wow, very impressive info. Ford is 9, Honda 11, Benz 13, Nissan 22, BMW 32....

 

The report is based out of the EU, but it looks at global corporations. All major non-EU corporations that are public are included. Private corporations for obvious reasons can't be included.

This is quite true, and they also imitate a lot of designs as well, reducing a need for them to spend that much R&D money. They won't be able to keep this up forever however, not unless they want to stay relevant and competitive in the future.