Annual Report 2023

Notes

2. Cost of sales

Cost of sales includes interest expenses of €7,968 million (previous year: €3,323 million) attributable to the financial services business.

This item also includes impairment losses on intangible assets (primarily development costs), property, plant and equipment (primarily other equipment, operating and office equipment), and lease assets in the amount of €1,335 million (previous year: €843 million). The impairment losses totaling €388 million (previous year: €572 million) recognized during the reporting year on intangible assets and items of property, plant and equipment result primarily from lower values in use of various products in the Passenger Cars and Light Commercial Vehicles segment, due to market and exchange rate risks, and in particular from expected declines in volumes. The impairment losses on lease assets in the amount of €947 million (previous year: €270 million) are predominantly attributable to the Financial Services segment. They are based on constantly updated internal and external information that is factored into the forecast residual values of the vehicles. €138 million (previous year: €10 million) of this figure is reported in current lease assets.

Government grants related to income amounted to €292 million in the fiscal year (previous year: €457 million) and were generally allocated to the functional areas.