Nové trendy v automobilovém průmyslu v Německu

The thesis "New Trends in the Automotive Industry in Germany" responds to the current transformation taking place in this sector. Historically, the automotive sector has contributed significantly to greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere and thus to global warming. There are several solutions that could potentially decarbonize it, and it is up to manufacturers to help reduce the sector's carbon footprint through innovation and new ideas. Thanks to this change, increased pressure on investment in research and development can be expected. The main objective of this thesis is therefore to assess whether and how investments in research and development affect the operating profitability of selected automotive companies. To achieve this goal, a quantitative analysis of existing data was chosen. The research is based on panel data from six automotive companies, mainly from Germany or closely associated with the country for the period 2010–2024. Three variants of fixed-effects panel regression were used to evaluate the relationships between the selected variables. The results do not indicate a statistically significant relationship between research and development expenditure and the operating profitability of the analyzed car manufacturers. On the contrary, return on assets proved to be a consistently significant indicator. The study thus suggests that although there is currently high pressure for innovation in the automotive industry, R&D expenditure does not yet have a significant impact on the operating profitability of this sector. However, the results underscore the importance of effective asset management.