Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I'm the chairman of the supervisory board, and according to our articles of association, it is my duty to chair this meeting. I hereby open the annual shareholders' meeting of Continental AG, and I welcome you all, our shareholders and shareholder representatives, most cordially. My welcome also goes to the media representatives and any other interested viewers who are following our annual shareholders' meeting. Today I'm speaking to you from the Herrenhausen meeting room at the company's headquarters in Hanover. As in previous years, I would have liked to personally welcome you in the Dome Hall at Hanover Congress Center. However, seeing that the COVID-19 pandemic is still ongoing and protection measures are still needed, this unfortunately is not possible this year.
You will have read in the invitation that the executive board, with the approval of the supervisory board, decided, on the basis of the so-called COVID-19 Act, to hold this year's annual shareholders' meeting without the physical presence of shareholders or their representatives. We took that decision because we want to protect the health of our shareholders and our staff charged with organizing the annual shareholders' meeting as best as we can. That is why I appreciate you joining our virtual shareholders' meeting and your interest in our company even more. In order to comply with the contact restrictions which are currently in place, we have limited the number of people present in the meeting room today to a small number of participants.
The other people present in the meeting room are the Chairman of the Executive Board, Dr. Elmar Degenhart, and two more executive board members, namely Dr. Ariane Reinhart, Group Human Relations, and Wolfgang Schaeffler, Group Finance and Controlling. I'm pleased to welcome both of you. I would also like to welcome the notary public, Dr. Florian Hartl, who's also present in the meeting room. Dr. Hartung will take care of the minutes of the annual shareholders' meeting. The proxies designated by the company are also present in the meeting room. The other members of the supervisory board and the executive board members are following the live broadcast of the ASM via livestream, and I would like to extend a warm welcome to you too, my esteemed colleagues on the supervisory board and the other executive board members. Holding a virtual shareholders' meeting inevitably requires a number of changes to be made regarding the conduct of the meeting and also regarding shareholders' rights.
This year, it won't be possible for shareholders to take the floor or present motions at the meeting, which means that, unfortunately, at this virtual shareholders' meeting, there will be no direct dialogue between you and the members of the supervisory board and the executive board. However, to the extent possible in technical and legal terms, the company has arranged for shareholders to be able to exercise certain shareholders' rights before or, in fact, even during the annual shareholders' meeting. All those of you currently watching our shareholders' meeting online will have gained access to the live broadcast via Continental's website. However, I'd like to point out that there is a difference between the public broadcast for interested members of the public and the investor portal for our registered shareholders.
Interested members of the public may watch the live broadcast of the entire shareholders' meeting via the company's website, which is publicly accessible. Please note, however, that it is not possible to exercise shareholders' rights and, more specifically, to vote if you are watching the public broadcast. I would like to ask those shareholders and shareholder representatives who have registered for our shareholders' meeting to go to the investor portal to log in to the broadcast. You will find the investor portal interface above the public broadcast button on the company's website. During the annual shareholders' meeting, you may only exercise your shareholder rights and your voting right in particular through the investor portal. This will be possible until I, as the Chairman of the annual shareholders' meeting, announce that the vote on the agenda items is closed.
Additionally, the investor portal allows you to raise an objection against the resolutions adopted at this annual shareholders' meeting, for the record. This feature will be available until the end of the meeting. Of course, you may also use the investor portal to follow the live broadcast of the shareholders' meeting. If you wish to log in to the investor portal, you will need your registration confirmation document, which gives you your so-called registration confirmation number and the internet access code. Once you are logged in, you may, as long as the meeting lasts, exercise your voting rights either by authorizing and issuing voting instructions to the company proxies electronically, or you may do so by electronic postal vote.
Therefore, I would like to recommend that all properly registered shareholders log in to the investor portal, unless they have done so already, so that you may properly exercise your shareholders' rights. Now, it is in the very nature of a virtual annual shareholders' meeting that a general debate is not possible. Nevertheless, the company had arranged for shareholders to submit questions via the investor portal to the executive board and the supervisory board up until two days before this annual shareholders' meeting, that is, until Saturday, the 11th of July, 2020, at midnight. There is a detailed description on how this works and more technical information on how to submit questions in the invitation to the annual shareholders' meeting. After the supervisory board's and the executive board's report, we will respond to your questions in detail.
Now, before I proceed to the formalities and the agenda of this ASM, I would like to take some time to thank all the men and women working in the health sector. The COVID-19 pandemic is making great demands of all of us, and even more so of those providing medical care. You've done a great job, that's what I think. The pandemic affects all of us, but not everybody is affected equally. That is why I would like to invite you to join me to commemorate the victims of this pandemic and share in the grief for the lives lost. Our thoughts should also serve as a reminder to remain vigilant and act responsibly, both in our spare time and at work, because we are acutely aware of the risks that have not gone away yet.
I would like to extend a special vote of thanks to all employees of the Continental Group worldwide for your team spirit, for your creativity, and your commitment during these challenging times. Protecting your health is the top priority for us. The supervisory board, therefore, fully supports the efforts on the part of the executive board and the management staff in this respect. Ladies and gentlemen, let me now take care of some matters of form governing this annual shareholders' meeting, and let me share some more details on the conduct of this meeting with you. On the formalities relating to the invitation, I'd like to state as follows: The executive board published the invitation to this ASM, including the agenda and the proposed resolutions in the Federal Gazette on June 5th, 2020.
At the same time, the invitation was sent to media outlets for publication all over Europe. Since that day, the invitation has been accessible on the company's website too. On the June 26th, 2020, the executive board published an amendment to agenda item 6 on the company's website. That amendment was published in the Federal Gazette on the June 30th, 2020, and it was also published in media outlets all over Europe. The notary public will file a copy of the invitation together with the minutes of this annual shareholders' meeting. The notifications required under section 125 of the German Stock Corporation Act have been made. More specifically, the executive board notified credit institutions and shareholder associations of the invitation to this ASM in due time if they had exercised voting rights on behalf of shareholders at past ASMs or if they had requested such notification.
Ever since the invitation to this annual shareholders' meeting was published on June 5th, 2020, documents for shareholders, which are subject to a legal disclosure requirement, have been available for inspection on the company's premises. Since then, and also during the annual shareholders' meeting, these documents have been accessible via the company's website, and they're also available in the meeting room today. I thus note that this annual shareholders' meeting was convened in due time and form and in compliance with the law and the company's articles of association. We have received one counter-motion, which, in line with the provisions of the German Stock Corporation Act, we also published in the ASM section of the company's website. At this virtual annual shareholders' meeting too, we will prepare a list of participants, which is available for inspection in the meeting room.
Given the physical absence of shareholders and shareholder representatives, the list will only include the names of the company proxies and the number of postal votes cast. After I announce the attendance count, I will hand over the list of participants to the notary public, and I would like to give you the current attendance figures now. I've received the list of the share capital represented at this AGM. The share capital of the company amounts to EUR 512,015,316.48 and is divided into 200,005,983 no par value shares. Shareholder representatives present here today are representing 169,585,699 shares, and this is also the number of votes present at this meeting, which corresponds to 84.79% of the company's share capital. Another 39,780 shares are represented by postal vote, which is 0.02% of the share capital.
In total, there are 169,625,479 shares, and this is also the number of votes present at this meeting, which corresponds to 84.81% of the company's share capital. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the end of my introductory remarks and comments. We will now proceed to today's agenda. The full content and wording of the proposed resolutions, together with the invitation to this ASM, were published in the Federal Gazette on June 5th and also on June 30th, 2020.
With respect to that content, let me start with item one of today's agenda: presentation of the adopted annual financial statements of Continental Aktiengesellschaft and the consolidated financial statements approved by the supervisory board each as of December 31st, 2019; the management report for Continental Aktiengesellschaft and for the group for the fiscal year 2019; the proposal of the executive board on the appropriation of net income, as well as a report of the supervisory board and the explanatory report of the executive board on the information provided pursuant to section 289a(1) and section 315a(1) of the German Commercial Code. The statutory auditor, KPMG AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft in Hannover, reviewed the annual financial statements and the consolidated financial statements, including the combined management report for Continental AG and the Continental Group, and issued their unqualified opinion.
Both the audit committee and the supervisory board met in the presence of the auditor to discuss selected items. At its meeting on March 17th, 2020, the supervisory board approved the annual financial statement of Continental AG, the consolidated financial statement, including the combined management report based on its own review and the review and the recommendation of the audit committee. According to Section 172 of the German Stock Corporation Act, the annual financial statement of Continental AG has thus been adopted. The audit committee and the supervisory board also conducted a detailed review of the report on relations with affiliated companies, the so-called dependent company report, and its final declaration. The auditor also closely examined the dependent company report and issued its unqualified opinion.
You will know that together with the annual financial statement of Continental AG, the executive board submitted a proposal on the appropriation of net income, which includes the distribution of a dividend of EUR 4 per share. This dividend proposal was approximately 15% below the previous year's dividend of EUR 4.75. At its meeting on the March 17th, 2020, when the supervisory board approved that proposal, both the supervisory board and the executive board were convinced that a dividend of EUR 4 would be appropriate, in particular given the recent share price development and the expected return. In the meantime, however, the environment we are operating in has changed dramatically. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused the Continental Group to make significant adjustments and has led to serious disruptions to our business.
This prompted the executive board and the supervisory board to re-examine the appropriation of net income and to carefully reconsider the return expected by our shareholders on the one hand and strengthening the capital and liquidity position of the company on the other. As a result, the executive board and the supervisory board are now proposing a dividend of EUR 3 per share for the fiscal year 2019. We are convinced that in the current situation, this adjusted dividend proposal equally contributes to the short and long-term interests of Continental, to your interests as shareholders, and to the interests of further stakeholders. Ladies and gentlemen, I would now like to move on to the report of the supervisory board. Let me start by informing you about the personnel changes that occurred. There has been one change in the composition of the executive board since the last annual shareholders' meeting.
With effect from the June 3rd, 2020, the supervisory board appointed Mr. Andreas Wolf as a member of the executive board of Continental AG. Since the beginning of October 2018, Mr. Wolf has been in charge of the Vitesco Technologies business division, which specializes in powertrain electrification. After the spin-off of the business division was postponed because of adverse economic conditions, Mr. Wolf's appointment to the executive board corresponds with his responsibility and the significance of the business division within the Continental Group. As is usual practice for first appointments, the mandate is valid for a maximum period of three years. However, it will end prematurely with effect from the spin-off date of Vitesco Technologies, which is still planned. I'm looking forward to the cooperation with you, Mr. Wolf, and I wish you the very best in every success, also on behalf of my supervisory board colleagues.
Now, before I continue my report on the supervisory board's activities, let me inform you that, as always, the supervisory board closely supervised, carefully monitored, and advised the executive board in the management of the company, and we have satisfied ourselves of the legality and expediency of management. In 2019, the supervisory board held four ordinary meetings, two extraordinary meetings, and one strategy meeting. The Chairman's Committee held three meetings and one telephone conference in the year under review. The Audit Committee met four times and held one telephone conference in 2019. The Nomination Committee met once before the last annual shareholders' meeting to discuss and approve the nominations for candidates for election as shareholder representatives to the supervisory board. The Mediation Committee, in accordance with the German Co-d etermination Act, was not required to meet in the last fiscal year.
On the basis of the German Act for the implementation of the second EU shareholder rights directive, which took effect on January 1st, 2020, the supervisory board agreed to the establishment of a committee for transactions with related parties. Apart from that, there are no further committees. Let me tell you now what the key topics of the supervisory board's discussions were during 2019. First, I'd like to mention the reorganization of the company, including the creation of the Automotive Board for the Automotive Technologies division and the corresponding personnel changes. We also addressed the question of how our group should ideally address the major challenges ahead due to further declining markets and the simultaneous, partially disruptive, and dramatically accelerating transformation of the entire automotive industry.
In that context, it was our task to discuss the strategy and the need for action identified by the executive board geared towards maintaining the long-term financial strength of Continental and also increasing its competitiveness and safeguarding its viability. The supervisory board also noted and approved the executive board's decision to examine the feasibility of not only a partial IPO of the powertrain division, but also its full spin-off with the subsequent listing. We would have liked to present this project for resolution today. However, with a view to the COVID-19 pandemic and the dramatic economic consequences for Continental and Vitesco Technologies which followed, the executive board decided on April 30th, 2020, to not submit the planned spin-off for approval at this year's annual shareholders' meeting. Not yet.
We are still convinced, though, that a spin-off would be the right strategic decision and that it would also be in the interest of both Continental and Vitesco Technologies. So our objective remains unchanged. We intend to go ahead with the spin-off as soon as we are seeing real and stable improvements in the markets. As we announced last year, the supervisory board, with the support of an independent compensation consultant, again conducted a thorough review of the remuneration system for the executive board members. At its meeting in December 2019, the supervisory board discussed the details of the changes to the remuneration system, which resulted from that review. One objective was to come up with a remuneration system which would meet the provisions of the aforementioned second EU shareholder rights directive and also the recommendations from the revised version of the German corporate governance code.
With this in mind, the supervisory board, at its extraordinary meeting on February 19th, 2020, adopted the new remuneration system and finally agreed to the individual remuneration for the executive board members in its meetings on March 17th and June 3rd, 2020. Esteemed shareholders, today we are presenting the new remuneration system for the executive board to you for approval. We are convinced that the new remuneration system will be an important part in promoting the business strategy of Continental AG. It will motivate the executive board members to try and achieve key strategic objectives of the group, notably increasing the company's value and developing a top-notch market position in terms of customer focus, quality, and market share. The focus of the new system is also on the sustainable and long-term development of Continental.
That is expressed by the fact that the biggest share of the target total compensation is made up of a variable component. The variable compensation elements, in turn, consist for the biggest part of long-term components with a multi-year assessment basis, which is linked inter alia to the relative performance of the Continental share in comparison with the share price performance of other companies in the automotive sector. Additionally, the long-term remuneration elements are also determined by sustainability targets. This way, Continental makes sure that there is a direct and close link between the ambitious targets of the company's sustainability strategy and the remuneration of the executive board.
Of course, the new remuneration system also provides for a cap to the executive board's remuneration, and in this respect, it fully complies with the legal requirements and the recommendations from the German Corporate Governance Code, and it will apply retroactively with effect from January 1st, 2020. In addition to the new executive board remuneration system, we are also presenting for your approval a new remuneration system for the supervisory board. Inspired by the German Corporate Governance Code, the future remuneration for the supervisory board is to exclusively consist of a fixed compensation element. The changeover to fixed remuneration only is helpful when it comes to advising and monitoring the executive board's management of the company with a focus on sustainable corporate development, especially in difficult times, and it also strengthens the independence of the supervisory board members.
Provided we get your approval, the new remuneration system will apply for this fiscal year for the first time. You may also want to know that the supervisory board members agreed, as an act of solidarity with their employees who are under a lot of pressure because of short-time work and similar measures, to accept the voluntary cut to their fixed remuneration this year, which is what the executive board of Continental AG also did. At each meeting of the plenary session in 2019, the executive board informed the supervisory board in detail of the sales, results, and employment development in the corporation and individual divisions, as well as the financial situation of the company. Where the actual course of business deviated from the defined plans and targets, the executive board provided detailed explanations.
It discussed the reasons for these deviations and the measures introduced in depth with the supervisory board. At the aforementioned strategy meeting in September 2019, the executive board and the supervisory board once again discussed at length the strategic objectives and strategic planning of the corporation and the divisions, as well as the HR strategy. The topics included in particular automated driving, connectivity, electrification, the Rubber Group's growth strategy, and as a key theme, artificial intelligence. On November 20, 2019, another extraordinary meeting was held in which we yet again thoroughly reviewed the structural changes discussed back in September, and at which we approved measures in the Interior division Instrumentation Driver HMI business unit, and also in connection with the discontinuation of the powertrain division's hydraulics business.
In December 2019, the supervisory board and the executive board issued an updated declaration in accordance with Section 161 of the German Stock Corporation Act on the recommendations of the German Corporate Governance Code. The declaration is available on the company's website at any time. In line with the recommendations of the code, I, as Chairman of the Supervisory Board, also discussed supervisory issues with the investors. Further information on corporate governance is included in the corporate governance report starting on page 12. The audit committee was also informed by the executive board in detail and on an ongoing basis about sales, results, and the employment development in the corporation and individual divisions, as well as the financial situation of the company. The audit committee also heard information on the progress of major acquisition and investment projects, as it does regularly every year.
In 2019, for example, this related in particular to the acquisition of the Bandvulc Group, United Kingdom, by the Tire division, 2016, and the establishment of the joint venture Osram Continental GmbH in 2018. Before publication, the audit committee held a detailed discussion and conducted a critical assessment of the interim financial reports, with a special focus on the earnings figures for the period under review and the outlook for the year. The audit committee is also closely involved in the company's compliance and risk management. The executive board provided regular reports to the audit committee on the activities in the compliance department and in internal audit and informed about major incidents. In consultation with the executive board, the heads of the compliance department and of internal audit were also available directly to the audit committee and its chairman if information was required.
Esteemed shareholders, before I conclude my report, let me highlight once again that the COVID-19 pandemic and its ramifications for our company made a strong mark on the activities of the supervisory board in the second half year of 2022 and provided us with quite a challenge. In addition to the two regular meetings, there were three extraordinary meetings, virtual meetings, in which the executive board provided us with regular reports on the current situation. The supervisory board carefully advised and monitored the executive board and its management of the current crisis. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes my report on the activities of the supervisory board. Next on the agenda is Dr. Degenhart's report with a special focus on agenda item one. Dr. Degenhart, the floor is yours. We are looking forward to your report.
Sometimes it's the invisible things that trigger visible changes.
Today and in these days, this applies to viruses as well as it does to this piece of innovation here. What I'm holding in my hands is the heart of digital and connected mobility. It is a top-notch computer. Soon, it will be found in each and every modern car. This is the beginning of the end of driving as we know it, as we have known it for the past 120 years. By 2022, just one of our customers alone will have purchased more than 2.5 million of these computers from us. Agile, digital, and connected. That's who we are. That's how we are. This describes our pioneering technologies. They can be found in three out of four vehicles around the world. This is how we are overcoming the crisis with innovation and with a very clear plan forward.
We are following this plan in a consistent and persistent manner. This means that we will stay competitive. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to our annual shareholders' meeting. Our first one online. Today, we will not be meeting face to face, so this means there will be something that will be missing. However, we can still meet online in a digital format without any viruses and without the risk of infection. I'm pleased about it. We are less than pleased about the economic environment. We are in the midst of an economic crisis, and this did not just start this year. The number of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles produced globally shows it. At most, 70 million will roll off the lines by the end of 2020. A comparable slump was last seen during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Never before has our entire industry been at a standstill all around the world. We see that our industry is at the bottom of a slump. But for your company, Continental, that means we are now looking upwards. We have a clear plan for the crisis consisting of four points, and we have concentrated on those first with all of our energy. First, the health of our workforce. We are protecting them from the virus. This is of the utmost significance. To this end, we quickly shut down production lines and converted them. About 85,000 employees worked remotely, for example, from their homes. Everyone at Continental has cut back in the crisis. They've organized the orderly shutdown and resumption of production, set up production of protective masks. Everyone shows a great deal of consideration for each other. The performance we are seeing is outstanding.
It once again shows just how well we play together as a team. This is what we think is great, and therefore, I think it's very important to say thank you on behalf of everyone. My thanks go to the global Continental team. Now, the second topic. We ensure that we have sufficient liquidity. To this end, we are cutting our costs. We're investing less. Compared to last year, at least one-fifth of investment will be less. We are tapping financial sources. In May and June, we placed three bonds on the capital market. In total, more than EUR 2.1 billion will be flowing our way. With our banks, we have expanded our credit facility by EUR 3 billion. All of these are quite important steps. They give us more independence, more room to maneuver, and that, of course, is rather decisive.
Just as important are the justified expectations of all of our stakeholders. We are constantly striving to take all of them along in our considerations, which is why we are proposing a dividend of EUR 3 per share to you today. Because of the consequences of the pandemic, we reduced it by EUR 1.75 compared to the previous year. By doing so, we are taking into account the interests of everyone in your company, Continental, those of today and those of tomorrow. At the same time, we are acting in your interest. After all, you are investing in your company, in your Continental. You are showing us your trust, and we do everything so that it will pay off for you in the long term. This is our clear goal. Our third area of focus is this: We are acting speedily and with determination.
Within a period of just under two weeks, we temporarily shut down more than 100 factories all over the world, together with 35 regional groups. It just took a couple of days, and then we had to fully set up our crisis processes. Our first question here was, how are we going to protect our staff from the virus? After just 10 days, we had a complete concept up and running for it. We're using this everywhere, and we shared it with our suppliers. So everyone is benefiting from this. The fourth part of our crisis program is this: intensive communication. We are doing this time and again within our company and also towards the outside. To this end, we introduced our own crisis app. It was up and running in record time.
With this app, we are able to reach out to our workforce everywhere, in particular in production, providing clear and precise information. This is how my colleagues and I on the executive board are working on this. We do this in interactive contact with our employees. We're answering their questions, and we're streaming everything on the company's intranet, live and without any filters attached. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, we have already held more than 25 of these digital meetings. In all of this, we have one guiding principle: that of transparency. We are being open, we are honest, we explain how we see the situation, and we say what we expect to come. This is what I will be doing today. I will tell you very clearly that the production volume decreases in the automotive industry worldwide are without precedent.
From 2017 till today, more than 25% fewer vehicles will have rolled and have rolled off the lines, and there will not be a fast recovery, neither in Europe nor in North America. I'm also very clear about another thing. The number of cars being produced around the world will be increasing only slowly. Earliest, after 2025, will we have reached the level of 2017? This is reflected by the sales in our industry. They're falling drastically. Everything is suddenly in a downward spiral, and there is no upward trend in sight. The top priority must be to remain solvent. This is what everyone is adapting for, and even faster than originally was planned for. In the interest of truth and transparency, however, we have to say that the situation of suppliers had already been very tense in 2019. Our figures clearly reflect this.
About EUR 44.5 billion were way of sales adjusted, and in purely organic terms, those were 2.6% less than in 2018. An adjusted operating result of EUR 3.2 billion, which was EUR 900 million less than in the previous year. The adjusted EBIT margin fell from 9.3%- 7.4%. For the first time in 10 years, EBIT was not positive. Instead, it showed a negative EUR 268 million, and group net income was negative, minus EUR 1.2 billion. Above all, this was due to the goodwill of earlier acquisitions. Because of the slump in car production, this fell. We had write-downs of about EUR 2.5 billion for this. Now, let me be clear. We are not satisfied with this performance. We can do better, and we will be doing just that. The pandemic has also brought us additional setbacks. We have just finished the second quarter.
It will be the weakest in the history of the automotive industry since 1945. Losses are likely to be in the billions for the industry. Now we are anticipating that the third quarter will be a truly difficult one. We do see production figures for cars rising, which indicates higher sales compared to those in the second quarter. However, it will be substantially lower than that in the third quarter of 2019. We cannot make more precise forecasts for 2020 as of now. However, we can rely on one advantage this year. We're not as susceptible to the ups and downs of the automotive industry everywhere to the same amount. For instance, this is true to our business areas of tires and ContiTech. They are also serving other markets that have different cycles. Their success is supporting us now. In tires, we are profiting from our business with consumers.
ContiTech serves entirely different industries. Examples are agricultural and food industry, rail transport and shipping, households, garden, and recreation areas. Ladies and gentlemen, a winner is someone who plays well even when things are not going so well. Currently, things are not going well for our industry. However, we are maintaining our position in the global elite of the providers of top technologies and software. Only those are playing in this league who are the most competitive and forward-looking teams. Only such companies can provide value-creating jobs in the long term. Only then can we ensure that there will be good income and prosperity. What turns us into such a winner? Above all, it is our attitude. We play to win. We are always looking for opportunities. We have a positive attitude. We like to change, and we are focused on our plan.
Since 2019, we have been shaping our biggest transformation to date. We are realigning our operations. This goes for our technologies as well as for our organization. We are pursuing our strategy until 2029. Does the current crisis change anything here? The clear answer is no, it does not. Quite to the contrary, we will be working even harder now. Our plan has very clear goals. We are focusing firmly on those goals. To achieve them, we are devoting all our energy to them and a high level of focus. We are expanding our portfolio where it's growing profitably, and we are making it even more fit for the future. We are shaping our production network accordingly worldwide, and we are speeding up our processes in even leaner structures. Our restructuring plan is our path towards the future. It is and it will remain our most important task.
We have already completed or initiated several key parts of this. To a great extent, we have separated our propane business. Vitesco Technologies will become an independent company. It has what it takes to make it on the market on its own, on a market that is experiencing strong growth while undergoing equally strong consolidation. We have postponed the planned spinoff to a later point of time because the current environment does not mean that the colleagues would have any freedom to act in an entrepreneurial manner and make decisions. However, the course is clear. The right time will come. We are well prepared, and we are ready to get started. We are moving forward with determination. We are taking care of one task after the next. From 2024 onwards, we will no longer produce or develop any high-pressure pumps for gasoline and diesel engines in Germany.
In 2028, we will not make injectors for diesel and gasoline engines in Western Europe. In the United States, in 2024, we will stop the production of injectors for gasoline engines. In Germany, the production of automotive displays and controls is no longer competitive. We will have phased it out by the end of 2025 for this reason. In the United States and in Western Europe, we are closing two locations for hydraulic brake systems. We have restructured automotive technologies. Its share of electronics is the highest in the industry. This is what constitutes the engine room for intelligent mobility. This is where we are developing key components for our software. We are doing it quickly, more flexible than ever before, and with less expenditure than before. So much on a first quick rundown on the situation. What will we be gaining from all of this? Quite a lot.
All in all, we will reduce gross costs by about $500 million, and we do that every single year. We're making good progress. The full savings will be achieved by 2023 already. We have already changed nearly 3,000 jobs around the world. Now there is Corona. The Corona virus is exacerbating the economic downturn. This is why our industry is progressing more slowly now. This has presented us with a second, rather urgent task. It is referring to our overarching financial structure. We are just readjusting it now because our current cost structure no longer fits and is in line with a lower global vehicle production. For this reason, we are building ourselves a kind of bridge over the coming years, a Corona virus bridge. It will lead us back to success. Here, we are reducing overcapacities and initiating further measures that will have a quick effect.
We are reducing investment. We are decreasing working capital. We are cutting labor and material costs. To put it plainly, we are reducing even more costs now, several hundred million euros. We will go beyond what we have decided upon already. It will have an impact until 2022. Here, we are already in close contact with the representatives of our workforce. We will strive to agree upon mechanisms, and we are now trying to make progress quickly and effectively. However, with everything that we are doing, it is possible that we will have to go the way of redundancies despite all of our efforts. This, however, will be the means of the last resort. We will provide details to you as soon as possible. Yes, it is true.
We are changing more things than before, but today we can already promise you we are staying true to our principles. That means we are making changes in a balanced and fair manner in line with our values and in such a way that we change and improve our innovative prowess. We want to be competitive. We want to stay fit for the future. Both go to having long-term growth. To that end, we are developing top technology. Each day, an estimated 1 billion people trust us with their lives when they use their cars. They rely on us because with our technologies on board, they get to places safely, cleanly, in a comfortable and convenient manner. Our heart is beating for a healthy mobility ecosystem. It's a system in which all three key requirements are balanced: ecology, economics, and social matters.
We are paving the way for this. We are making people mobile. We are providing them with safety and with enjoyment. We're helping to protect the environment and enhance climate neutrality. We're doing so at affordable prices so that as many people as possible can contribute to the healthy ecosystem. That's a huge task. It starts right here with us, which is why we are clearly saying that as of this year, we will be purchasing electricity only from verified renewable sources for all our plants and locations worldwide. Production processes will be carbon neutral by 2040. By 2050, on all of the stages of our value creation, we won't have any CO2 emissions. This is true for our production processes, but it's also true for what comes out of it. This way, we are growing in a profitable and sustainable manner, mainly in three technological areas.
First, in the field of digitalization, everything will become new. With it, we are changing our solutions and processes, and we are using new business opportunities. Second, in the field of assisted and automated driving, we will base autonomous driving on this. Third, in the field of emission-free driving. Through digitalization, we are turning the vehicle into a part of the internet with telematics, with electronics for chassis and antennas. These are among our major strongholds. Now we are adding further strengths. We are developing new architectures for the electronics in the car. We are also paving the way for standardized operating systems. You all know such systems from your mobile phones. As a user, you usually download your new programs, all of that without any cables. That is the way which it will be for the cars in the future.
The business will be growing rapidly. Just as important is the protection against cyber attacks. The cars will need this, just like mobile phones. Here, your company, Continental, is playing a leading role. Is digitalization going to be worthwhile? Yes, of course it is. We're already achieving sales in the billions here, and the trend is strongly rising. This is not everything. We are also benefiting from our technologies for the human-machine interface. As an example, let me mention animated displays. These are new systems that graphically show information in the driver's field of vision inside the car. In the picture, you see a large area display, which is three-dimensional, and it can be operated intuitively. What's it good for? For us, we have annual sales of hundreds of millions, and the trend is strongly rising as well. This is not everything.
The next major opportunity can be found here. In this piece of innovation you have already seen, it's this computer. It might look pretty small, but when it comes to performance, it's huge. Germany is looking for the next superstar. Well, we've got it. Here it is. It's the digital heart of vehicles. In the future, several of these hearts will be beating in the car. One, for example, will be controlling the car's motion. Another one will connect the car to others, or it will help driving it. A third one will create a landscape with displays in the passenger compartment. The car will talk with people in an entirely new way. There's lots of potential in all of this. They will drive our potential growth for many years, especially this little computer, small in size but big in performance.
We have already landed sales of more than EUR 3 billion with it. This is calculated based upon the lifetime of the respective model lines. This is just the start. By 2022 alone, we are expecting more than 10 further projects. Finally, a few words about the fourth field of application for digital technologies. I'm talking about new mobility services. Here, we are making the most of our decisive advantage because we are making nearly all of our products intelligent for this purpose. For instance, we are digitalizing tires and air spring systems. Our intelligent tires are going over long distances. They roll quietly, and they save energy. They share their data with the cloud. In doing so, they're constantly learning. In the future, they will adjust their inflation pressure to the road surface. They will keep looking ahead to see what is coming.
They can do that very well because the cloud gives them the data they need for it. Tire data are already in great demand. We send them to the vehicle fleet operators via our digital services. This boosts our business with them because we are making about EUR 1 billion in sales each year with fleets, and that's going to increase. We'll have three times that sum by the year 2030. Our electronic air spring system is also an intelligent one. We've expanded it with a kind of built-in scale. It constantly shows the load weight, payload. Thus, it indicates if there is overloading. It helps the drivers. It helps the owners because the transport then complies with legal regulations. It makes traffic generally safer and without overloads, trucks subject roads to less wear and tear. Take our Fleetm atch app.
It makes life easier for people who drive something, who steer something like a truck, or who manage a whole fleet of trucks. In Germany, drivers use it to rate the loading docks. What's it like there? How long do we have to wait? How friendly is the personnel dealing with the drivers? In all of these cases, software is the oxygen of the industry. It makes entirely new services possible. Our customers are very interested in such services. They are anticipating a market with sales of several billion euros. This will happen just within a few years' time. A supplier of technology like us has a key role to play here because the fact is that suppliers now create around 90% of all of the programs inside the cars. In the future, car manufacturers themselves will provide more of these programs themselves.
However, is that going to take the opportunities away from us? No, we don't think so because at the same time, we are expecting an enormous amount of profitable growth. The reason is that there will be more and more functions inside the vehicle, and thus value creation with computer programs will increase. It grows by double-digit percentages every year, which is good for us. It's getting even better. This digitalization is one of the main driving forces when it comes to our production. It's a matter of dealing with large amounts of data and robotics. We see the greatest potential for the coming years in this area. Here, we will create top value. At present, we're already using 1,600 cobots. They work hand in hand with their human colleagues. Thanks to intelligent technology, we also know where each and every component is in the process.
This makes us even faster and even more efficient. Now on to our second area of growth, the business with systems for assisted and automated driving. Based on this, we will develop autonomous driving by and by. We are developing these technologies for zero traffic accidents and thus zero traffic fatalities. This Vision Zero is already a real possibility. You probably know it from your very own car. I'm talking about our intelligent systems that assist you when you are driving. They help you when you are in traffic jams or when you go through construction sites. But there are also those systems that assist us when cornering. Take, for instance, intelligent cruise control. Such technologies protect lives. In the car, your own life. Outside the car, the lives of others. This is why they are of interest to private customers and fleet customers alike. Everyone wants them.
This is clear why the business is growing so fast, faster than hardly any other business. However, those of you who drive also have to brake. That's, of course, natural. Our brake systems are fast, precise, and highly integrated. They're also extremely reliable. Obviously, they are there whenever they are really needed. This is how they support automated driving. By 2023, we will have sold nearly 40 million of these systems. Take our product range for passive safety and sensorics. It includes systems designed to protect passengers as well as sensors for a safe chassis. We are already selling more than 350 million of them every year. Finally, there is our third area of growth: technologies for clean vehicle drive systems. Of course, e-mobility belongs to it. The E here does not just stand for electric. It also stands for emission-free.
Be it with a battery or a fuel cell, e-mobility is a growth market. Thus, it's a huge opportunity for Vitesco Technologies, which is why we have unified the right types of strengths there. Our strengths, above all, are in electronics and mechatronics, but even more in the integration of systems. This is where we take the full advantage of them. By pooling them, we create top value. One example is our axle drive system, including the inverter, which we are inserting there. It converts direct current into alternating current. The drive system and the inverter are a strong double feature. Once the demand for it is increasing, for the vehicles is increasing, then these systems will be in high demand. But if plug-in hybrids become popular more quickly, then the inverters will be offered on a solo basis, and we will grow accordingly. Is it worthwhile?
By all means, and not just for this duo, because for most of our product family, the market will grow by about 30% in the coming five years, and that's on an annual basis. As you can see, both Continental and Vitesco Technologies are paving the way for profitable growth. In the crisis, we are keeping our goals firmly in sight, and we rely on innovation at an early point of time, vigorously so and with determination, which is why we are and will remain pioneers. We are creating a healthy ecosystem of new mobility because it contributes to a three-fold type of climate protection. It protects the environment, the economy, and society. All three need our protection. We can do it. We will be doing it. It's a perfect fit with our values, with which we are creating value. That's what our heart is beating for.
```And what about you? We are appreciating your support. Thank you very much for your attention.
Mr. Degenhart, thank you very much for this thorough report. Even back at the previous ASM, we spoke about the fundamental change in the automotive sector and about how Continental had acted early on to position itself for this transformation. Since then, we've experienced that this change has not only materialized as projected but is actually being reinforced and accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic. I would like to thank you and your team, Dr. Degenhart, for your outstanding achievement in steering the Continental Group through what is currently a challenging market environment.
Now, in spite of the challenges we are currently facing, you have demonstrated that you and your team are capable not only of finding the right response to these challenges but also of playing an active role in shaping the future of mobility. Dr. Degenhart, please pass on the gratitude of the supervisory board to all of your employees. Ladies and gentlemen, I would now like to proceed with the other items on today's agenda. As when we answer your questions, we will be dealing with all of the remaining agenda items together. Item two on the agenda is a resolution on the appropriation of net income. I explained earlier on what our reasons are for adjusting our original dividend proposal.
The executive board and supervisory board thus propose that from the net income of 2019 of EUR 5,855,935,132.26 recorded by Continental AG in fiscal 2019, a dividend of EUR 3 per share be paid out to our shareholders. This constitutes a total dividend payment of EUR 600,017,949. It's further proposed that the remainder of net income totaling EUR 5,255,917,183.26 be carried forward. Item three on the agenda is a resolution on the ratification of the actions of the executive board members for fiscal 2019. The executive board and supervisory board propose that the actions of the executive board members during fiscal 2019 be ratified for this period. Please note that when voting on this resolution, you can choose whether or not to ratify the actions of each individual executive board member.
Item four on the agenda is a resolution on the ratification of the actions of the supervisory board members for fiscal 2019. Again, the executive board and supervisory board propose that the actions of the supervisory board members in office during fiscal 2020 be ratified for this fiscal year. Again, shareholders may cast their vote for each individual board member. Please note that this vote also applies to the actions of supervisory board members whose terms ended at the conclusion of last year's ASM on April 13th, 2019, and who did not stand for a second term. This is why you will see the names of 24 supervisory board members when casting your vote for item four.
Item five on the agenda is a resolution on the appointment of the auditor and the group auditor and of the auditor for the review of the interim financial report for fiscal 2020. Based on the recommendation put forward by the audit committee, the supervisory board proposes KPMG AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft Hannover as the auditor, group auditor, as well as the auditor for the review of the interim financial reports for fiscal 2020. The audit committee has declared its proposal free of improper influence from third parties and declared that no restrictive clauses were forced upon it pursuant to Section 16, Paragraph 6 of the EU Auditor Regulation. Moving on now, item six on the agenda deals with the resolution on the approval of the remuneration system for Executive Board members.
The supervisory board proposes that the remuneration for executive board members that was proposed during the supervisory board meeting of February 19, 2020, with amendments made on March 17, 2020 and on June 3, 2020, be adopted. Now we proceed to item seven on the agenda, which deals with the resolution on the remuneration system of the supervisory board members in conjunction with the resolution on the corresponding amendment to the articles of association of Continental AG in Gazelle Chapter. The executive board and the supervisory board propose that the remuneration system outlined under item seven, section A of the invitation, and the supervisory board compensation derived from this system be adopted and that the articles of association be amended and rewritten accordingly as outlined under item seven, section B of the invitation.
Esteemed shareholders, it's not possible to have a proper plenary session in an online ASM. We would now nonetheless like to begin answering the questions that you submitted to us prior to the annual shareholders meeting. The questions that were submitted to us by midnight on Saturday, the 11th of July, will be answered by executive board members, Dr. Reinhart, as well as Dr. Degenhart and Dr. Schaeffler. I will respond to any questions relating to the supervisory board, but what I will say, we will represent the executive board's view on the matters addressed. We'd like to emphasize that we will be responding to every question that was submitted to us and will not be taking advantage of the opportunity afforded to us by law of merely answering a selection of the questions submitted.
When answering the questions, we will state the name of the person who submitted the question unless this person has explicitly requested that he or she remain anonymous. I will now ask Dr. Degenhart to begin answering the questions.
As I said earlier, the other board members and myself, as chairman of the supervisory board, will be answering questions where appropriate. When answering the questions, we will start with the questions from the shareholder representative organizations. The German Retail Shareholders Association, the SdK, as well as the DSW, also a retail shareholders association, will be spoken about, as well as the umbrella organization for ethical shareholders. We will now start with the questions from institutional investors. We received questions from Deka Investment GmbH, as well as from Union Investment. We will then answer the other questions that were received from individual shareholders.
In order to avoid repeating ourselves to the greatest extent possible, any questions that were received from various shareholder organizations or individual shareholders that relate to the same topic have been grouped together. I will now begin with the question sent to us by Alexander von Wietinghoff-Scheel, who is representing the DSW. On the topic of online ASMs, Mr. Wietinghoff-Scheel has asked how many questions were sent to us and how many questions we will answer. By the deadline of June 11th at midnight, 76 questions were sent to us, and we will answer all of them. As such, the number of questions we received is more or less at the same level as last year's annual shareholders meeting. Furthermore, Mr. Wietinghoff-Scheel asks us the following questions.
In reports in the media, we have heard that the executive board would welcome the prospects of online ASMs even once the corona pandemic is out. Can you confirm these media reports? Yes. If not, then how can you explain that the website automanager.tv reported that this was the case? If the answer to the question is yes, is the executive board aware that material rights of small shareholders in a pure online ASM is significantly impaired? So the right to ask questions and also the rights to contribute. Is the executive board aware that it is essential for the democratic rights of shareholders that next year it is possible that we might have to refrain from ratifying the actions of the boards of management and that the plans to hold an online ASM next year would undermine shareholder democracy?
The SDK asked how, after the COVID-19 pandemic, we are going to organize our ASMs. This is our response to these questions. The legislators did say that even outside we had come up with the idea that it might be possible for public limited companies to hold online ASMs even outside of the pandemic. In times of increasing digitalization, it would be consistent to proceed with this type of thing. But if we do this, it's important that we preserve shareholders' rights. We shouldn't forget that today's format of an online ASM was an instrument that was adopted very quickly, and it is designed for the short term to ensure that despite the corona pandemic, we can hold annual shareholder meetings. This is why the current rules that apply cannot serve as a blueprint for organizing an ASM in the future.
Our efforts when preparing this year's ASM were geared towards providing the highest possible level of transparency and the best possible dialogue. One such example of this was our publishing of the manuscripts of my speech of today before the ASM itself. This has given our shareholders the possibility to ask their questions and provide them to us, knowing what I was going to say in my speech. For a comprehensive evaluation of our experiences with the online ASMs, we believe it's still too early. But we will wait and see what the feedback of our shareholders on the matter is before making any decision. Now, onto the first and second quarter of the corona pandemic, we received a number of different questions on this topic. Mr. Wietinghoff-Scheel asked us the following questions. What impacts has the coronavirus crisis had on the company? How have our employees been affected?
Supply chains been affected? Reluctance to purchase on the part of customers? How high was the reluctance in March? How has this materialized significant effort on receivables? What lessons have we learned? Is there anything you can tell us about the second quarter? If so, yes. If not, then will you still be publishing your half-year results on the 5th of August 2020? The SDK also asked us a number of questions on this matter. The SDK asked what our sales growth will look like and also supply call-offs in May and June, and whether we have bottomed out in terms of revenues already and whether we are now seeing an increase in revenues. Furthermore, they asked whether there have been any significant regional disparities.
To start with the supply chains and transport routes, the SDK has also asked whether there have been bottlenecks, whether there are still bottlenecks, and if so, in which area the most significant bottlenecks have been observed. The SDK also asked that when resuming production, there may be supply bottlenecks and whether Continental has increased its inventories to ensure that production can run smoothly. In spite of the question on the matter, the SDK would like to know whether as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increase in overdue trade receivables. So the supply chain, Mr. Matthes from Deka Investment, has asked whether this has worked, whether they have been intact with Continental, and whether there will be any changes to this in the future. This is our response to these questions.
The global COVID-19 pandemic has, of course, also impacted our employees significantly. Their health and their safety are of utmost priority. We will get to this in more detail in other questions that we'll be answering today. Moreover, the corona crisis has had a massive impact on our company as it has on the entire German industry. It has an impact on all of the different business areas, led to a collapse in revenues and also to a significant decline in earnings and lower cash flow. Revenues in the months of April and May were most heavily impacted by COVID-19. In the first quarter of 2020, the strongest decline was in China and Asia. In March, the main negative impact came from all regions equally. In April 2020, we had the lowest recorded revenues.
We had a slight uptick in May, which continued in June and came from all markets. That said, revenues thus far in 2020 are significantly down on the prior year period across all regions, and so significantly. We've just come to an end of the second quarter. It is the weakest in the history of the automotive sector since 1945. Based on current customer calls, we expect to have a very, very difficult third quarter as well. We're seeing an increase in the number of units built in terms of cars, which indicates that we might have high revenues in the second quarter. But what's becoming clear is that it will be significantly below the level of the third quarter of 2019. The main reason for this trend is persistent weak demand in Europe and North America. Onto the supply chains.
Thus far, there have been no critical bottlenecks in our supply chains and transport routes. We've always been able to deliver. We have been managing and monitoring our supply chains continually so that when we have a structural ramp-up, there will be no bottlenecks. Where it's made sense, we have increased inventories. We're in dialogue with some of our customers about system approaches and big data applications to try and more effectively manage inventories in crisis situations. This would lead to greater transparency, even more transparent than we have now, and would also allow bottlenecks to be detected at an earlier stage. Now to the question about the efforts on receivables. With some of our customers, particularly in the tires and Quantitech business, but also with OEM customers, we have agreements that have extended payment terms to ensure that our customers can continue to do business.
There are isolated cases in which, due to the lockdown or furlough schemes, the processes have been disrupted where our customers are, and this has led to delays in payments. We will have to wait and see what the financial situation of some of our smaller customers is going forward. It could have an impact on whether or not they can pay. In some cases, we are in close coordination with our customers on the matter. Our semi-annual results will, as expected, be announced on the 5th of August 2020. The corona crisis will not have any impact on our accounting and reporting. Despite the scale and complexity, within a very short period of time, we've had an orderly and structured adaptation to our situation in terms of safety and also the contraction in volumes. In all regions and in all business areas, our teams responded immediately.
Our processes are designed in such a way that the necessary measures intertwine with one another and can be implemented at the same time. This relates to production stops, also to adaptation of supply chains, HR measures such as furloughing and reduced working hours and time accounts, adaptation of costs, and also reducing unnecessary investment. Along our four corporate values, the entire organization exhibited a fantastic response. I'd like to move on to the strategy questions asked by the DSW. Has the management moved away from its strategy, dividing the company up into three core parts, or is this simply a delay to implementation? What's the roadmap going forward? Will there be any significant strategical changes or delays? The SDK asked the questions on this topic as well. They asked what the specific plans are going forward when it comes to restructuring the group.
What's the status of things today? Which specific measures have come about as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic relating to the strategic concept of the group restructuring? What about the IPO of WITESCO? How likely is it that this will materialize in 2021? Here are our answers to these questions. The organization itself of Continental Group is going to be geared towards a strategic management holding structure, and we continue to work on this unabated. The COVID-19 pandemic will not have any impact on the strategic concept of our group restructuring. Evidence of our progress in the implementation of this concept are initial organizational changes that have been made since January 1st, 2020 under the name of Continental Group, a new organizational structure encompassing five business areas which include 23 business units that have been put into place.
As you already know, in the automotive technology segment, last year, an automotive board consisting of my board colleague, Nikolai Setzler, as a spokesperson, was established. We've also been bundling our research and development activities under our Chief Technology Officer, Mr. Abendroth , which is a very important step to ensure that in future we'll be able to respond with even greater agility to the challenges of digitalization. The core focus during this process has been the spin-off of WITESCO Technologies. As such, we have decided that this year the spin-off will not take place, and we will only make this step once the market environment has exhibited a notable improvement. That said, we are introducing measures which will ensure that the planned spin-off can take place as soon as possible once the market situation returns to something resembling normality.
Now, to answer other questions from the DSW, I would now like to hand over to Wolfgang Schaeffler.
Thank you very much, Elmar. Now, on to questions about fiscal 2019. Mr. Wietinghoff-Scheel asked whether there were any reports in the compliance system. If so, how many were there? Were there any severe cases? If so, what were they? How were they resolved? If not, was the compliance system itself examined? In fiscal 2019, there were 694 reports sent to our compliance and anti-corruption hotline, which in our view is testimony to the effectiveness of our compliance management system. In around 500 cases, investigations were actually concluded during the fiscal year. Just over 30% of them showed violations, and in more than half of these cases, disciplinary measures were imposed, which also included redundancies. These are individual violations which do not pose any material risk for the company.
The DSW, given the revision to the forecast, has asked whether a new forecast will be issued. If so, when will this be? If not, why not? As the company announced on the 1st of April, the executive board decided, given the uncertainty about the duration of the restrictions with the coronavirus crisis and also what the consequences will be for production, supply chain, and also demand, that the forecast would be withdrawn that we had for fiscal 2020, the one that you can find in the annual report for 2019. The conditions in our sales markets remain challenging and are characterized by uncertainty, which is why, as things stand, it's impossible to say when a new detailed forecast for 2020 can be issued. We will now come to answering the questions of the SDK.
If we haven't answered them already, I would like to hand over to my colleague, Ariane Reinhart, who will answer the first questions sent by the SDK.
Thank you very much, Wolfgang. The SDK is asking for how many employees of Continental we registered for short-term work, for how long, and what the work situation for our employees looks abroad. Due to the interruption of production and lower demand in Germany, we applied for short-term work for about 30,000 employees in Germany since April. The majority of the work council agreements on short-term work will last into the fourth quarter of 2020. The duration and the degree of utilization of short-term work depends on the local specificities.
As a consequence of the coronavirus pandemic, Continental decreased, and because of decreased demand, Continental reduced production by or idled production by a few days or many weeks since the beginning of May, and on more than 40% of the 249 production sites. Since June, we started production again. However, dependent on call-offs and renewed lockdowns in several countries, it might be that production has to be stopped again in various sites. SDK is also asking if, apart from short-term work, Continental also used other forms of state aid. Let me make one remark straight away. Short-term work and short-term pay is not a state aid. It's provided by the unemployment insurance scheme. It is paid by the unemployment insurance to the employees in order to avoid difficult situations and hardships and avoid redundancies. This is being financed by contributions to social benefit schemes.
Continental, for example, over the past 10 years, paid EUR 400 million to the Federal Labor Office. The employees paid the same amount. This is about EUR 400 million. All in all, we paid EUR 800 million to the Federal Labor Office. Because of the corona pandemic in 2020, for the time up until June, we will receive approximately EUR 85 million in terms of short-term work compensation. This is definitely well below the money that we paid in. On your question, Continental so far has not used any state aid. According to the current situation and our current assessment of the situation, and on the basis of our balance sheet situation and the cash equivalents that we have as liquidity cushion, we assume that we will not have to use state aid. The SDK continues to ask, "Are there any people infected with the coronavirus in your workforce?"
How many are there, and in which locations did you have most of the cases? As already mentioned by Mr. Degenhart, the safety and health of our employees is our uppermost and foremost target and also the basis of everything we do. To protect our employees, we developed a holistic concept which is used in all the locations worldwide. Because of our proactive dealing with the pandemic and the continuous adjustments to developments all over the world, we were able to keep infection rates with our people at a relatively low level. According to what we know up until today, on a worldwide scale, about 200 employees of Continental were infected. The high infection rate, such as in individual countries, such as in Mexico, for example, also corresponds with the highest infection rates that we see amongst the workforce.
But please bear with us that we cannot give you any further details due to the protection of privacy of our people. Referring to the explanations of Elmar Degenhartt in his speech, SDK is asking for savings measures. What is the level of savings measures? Which workforce, which region, which area will be most impacted? Let me answer as follows. With regard to the transformation of the automotive industry, our structural transformation program, Transformation 2019 to 2029, is our most important tool, as was announced in September 2019. We continue on our path of consistent implementation. Our program has a long-term to medium-term focus and is geared to make us future-proof. It is geared to the sustainable strengthening of our competitiveness in the long and medium term and on a global scale, and it's relevant for all divisions and all regions.
We announced in September 2019 that in the next 10 years, about 20,000 jobs or out of 240,000 jobs will be affected by the changes, amongst them 7,000 jobs in Germany. As announced at the beginning of March, due to the potential deterioration of markets in the medium term, further measures are being assessed. Elmar Degenhartt already mentioned it in his speech. The coronavirus further exacerbates the cyclic downturn in our industry. This is why we are currently readjusting our overall cost structure, thus reducing overcapacities, and we are also taking further measures which will be effective in the short run. For example, we are also reducing personnel expenses and costs of material. When it comes to the additional savings measures, we are in close contact with our employee representatives, and we are aiming for a mutually agreed mechanism.
We try to work as fast as we can, but no matter how we try, it cannot be completely excluded that there might be forced redundancies as a measure of last resort. But again, we will inform you on the details as soon as possible. When it comes to the further questions of SDK, I'd like to ask my colleague, Dr. Schaeffler, to take them. Thank you very much, Ariane. With regard to the recent searches with Continental in connection with the defeat devices in diesel engines, SDK received several questions. SDK, for example, asked, "Can you give us on these investigations?" To us, as owners of Continental AG, Mr. Matthes of DK Investment asked, "In addition to this, the investigations are geared against two engineers and two managers of Continental. Do they only relate to individuals, or do they also affect Continental as a company?"
What are the consequences of these investigations? And also the Dachver band of Critical Shareholders asked in that context. Continental says and claims that they did not supply software to customers for the purpose of manipulating emission tests. Do you still stand by this statement? And as Continental, according to its own statement, comprehensively cooperates with the authorities, how do you refute the initial suspicion that employees of the automotive division of Continental complied with Volkswagen's wishes to provide them with such a defeat device? Can you prove that Continental technology and software was used to always keep in line with the permissible emission limits? What do you think? What are the financial risks and reputational risks resulting from these investigations? Answer on this.
We can confirm that in July, premises in several places such as Hannover, Frankfurt, and Regensburg were visited in the context of public prosecutor investigations in connection with defeat devices in Volkswagen diesel engines. We fully cooperate with the authorities. Most recent investigations are not geared and directed against Continental AG or any of its subsidiaries. As stated repeatedly, it was basically possible to meet the emission limits applicable in the relevant periods with the software that Continental supplied to its clients. Based on what we know today, we also see no reason to move away from our previous statement, namely, that we did not supply software to any of our clients for the purpose of manipulating emission test values. In the context of the search of the public prosecutor, however, Continental learned that the public prosecutor investigates against specific individuals.
Against this backdrop and with regard to our full cooperation with the authorities, Continental decided not to comment further on this ongoing process. Currently, we also cannot make any statement on potential consequences of the investigation on the Continental Group. On the dividends, SDK is asking, "A dividend payout of EUR 3 per share, does this seem reasonable in economic and social terms?" With an earnings per share of minus EUR 6.13, a decrease in the free cash flow in the amount of 43%, and an increase in the net financial debt of 145%, and a dramatic drop in the share price, and the introduction of short-term work for your employees. Also, Mr. Matthes from DK Investments asked, with regard to the reduction of the dividend from EUR 4 to EUR 3, is asking how this number was chosen and if the option of zero dividend was also considered.
Our answer to this: the last business year, due to a decrease in volume, was a challenging year, as we already explained. We still had a positive operative result, EBIT of EUR 3.2 billion in the group. The adjusted EBIT and the net income only turned negative due to one-off effects, with many of them having no cash impact at all. The executive board and the supervisory board, because of the massively changed market development due to the corona pandemic and the negative free cash flow that was to be expected, the executive board and the supervisory board again had an intensive discussion on the dividend proposal. In this discussion, we weighed the justified return expectations of our shareholders and, of course, the need to strengthen the capital and the liquidity position of the companies.
The result was to lower the originally suggested dividend of EUR 4 to EUR 3 per non-par value share. The dividend that is now suggested for the business year of 2019 fits the performance of the year under review and is also in line with the interests of all stakeholders. An option of paying no dividend at all was not discussed. On the current car market in China and automotive in China, SDK is asking, "Is there already a clear market recovery? Could there even be catch-up effects?" In the first quarter of 2020, the decrease in the market came from China and Asia. According to the Chinese Passenger Car Association, the manufacturing figures in February and March were 21.8% and 51.5% respectively below the figures of the previous year.
In comparison, the number of build units in May was 10% above the previous year and in June, 11.6% above the year. Researchers believe that this very quick recovery is mainly driven by catch-up effects and also state aid, massive state aid. We reckon that in the next few months, the sales development in China will be in line with the production in China, but we still believe that the situation in China is still fairly volatile. There is a question of SDK with regard to replacement tires. This was massively suffering from the lockdown. Do you see any increase in the sales figures or even catch-up effects or are the sales figures still as low? In the tire business for passenger cars, at different times in different regions, there were considerable plunges in demand.
However, after the strict lockdown phases, there was considerable recovery, but the sales volumes in June were still below the numbers for the previous year. The plunge was not as expressed for truck tires, and we also see catch-up effects in June. SDK also asked questions on the remuneration of the management board and supervisory board.
Thank you very much, Mr. Schaeffler. I'd like to take the questions on the proposed executive board remuneration scheme. SDK asked as follows: What do the financial performance criteria have to look like so as not to trigger short-term variable remuneration for the executive board within the new system? And could you also guarantee in the new remuneration system that in the future, short-term variable payment is only paid if, after deduction of cost of capital, the underlying net profit is still positive? I'd like to explain as follows.
As stated in the invitation to the ASM on item 6 in section D4.4, you will have read that the short-term incentive is dependent on achieving a 40% EBIT, a 30% ROCE share, and a 30% free cash flow. These targets are guided by the plans adopted by the supervisory board for the fiscal year 2020. Should these values not be achieved, or should there be a significant shortfall, there would be no interest on the company. Just above the median value between. Also includes long-term elements, was significantly below the median value. The actual payout ratio was below the median value, and you can gather this from the tables in the annual report on page 26 and the following pages. On the second part of your question, we cannot be satisfied with the consolidated result, that's of course, and we intend to improve it next year.
Because of the earnings situation in 2019, the performance bonus targets were only reached by 27% on average. The tire division made a very positive contribution to that. Also, you need to know that strategic targets had been defined, which relates to non-financial targets. The structure of the executive board's remuneration can be found in greater detail on page 23 in the annual report for 2019. Another question from SDK is as follows: What remuneration would the CEO have received under the new system if the numbers from 2019 had been taken? So if the new system had taken effect one year earlier. The amounts in the tables of the German corporate governance code would have been unchanged because the short-term incentive and the long-term incentive are stated at 100%. Also, the real payments from the long-term incentive would not have changed.
If the supervisory board had selected similar target criteria and an identical target achievement scale in the short-term incentive, the target achievement for the CEO would have stood at 35% compared to 18% in the fiscal year 2019. The total remuneration stated in the German corporate governance code tables would have amounted for the CEO to EUR 4.2 million instead of EUR 3.94 million. Regarding the supervisory board's activities, SDK asked about the average attendance rate during supervisory board meetings and also who was the member that was not attending most frequently. The list with individual meeting attendance of supervisory board members in the fiscal year 2019 can be found on the website of the company, and it's been accessible there since the invitation to this annual shareholders meeting. There you can see that supervisory board members were fully present almost all of the time.
Average attendance at meetings of the whole supervisory board stood at just under 98% and at just under 97% in the committees. Professor Wolf was not able to attend two out of seven meetings of the plenary session, which corresponds to an attendance rate of 71% for him. Another question by SDK is as follows: In the fiscal year ended or in the first few months of 2019, were there any compliance violations which were brought to the attention of the supervisory board? If so, what were these violations all about, and what were the most serious ones? The head of internal audit and the head of compliance provide regular reports to the audit committee of the supervisory board, and I mentioned that in my report previously. Of course, this also includes single compliance violations.
Any material violations for the company were not brought to the attention of the supervisory board in 2019 and the first few months of 2020. Let's now continue with responding to the questions by the Association of Ethical Shareholders, and I'd like to ask Ms. Reinhart to take the questions of the Ethical Shareholders Association.
Thank you very much, Mr. Reitzle. The Association of Ethical Shareholders has asked whether the executive board will pursue targets geared towards achieving the 1.5 Paris Climate Agreement target, pointing towards the fact that the climate would heat up by 4.1 degrees Celsius if all companies or groups would have a climate footprint similar to Continental by 2050. If Continental were to implement its own climate target, heat build-up would still be at 2.9 degrees Celsius.
On that, we'd like to note as follows: With our climate targets, we fully meet the sector-specific targets under the Paris Climate Agreement. We're even going to overachieve them. The figures stated initially come from the Science Based Targets organization, and Continental is coordinating the discussion with them, and we would like to refer you to their results for a correct interpretation of the figures. The association has asked the following questions: How do you ensure going forward that your corporate decisions will be compatible with the 1.5 degree target? What are your planned greenhouse gas emissions reductions in the next 5, 10, 15, and 20 years? Do you have any targets for Scope 3 of indirect greenhouse gas emissions, and what are they? If not, why not? Would you have the Science Based Targets initiative review your own targets? If so, when? If not, why not?
Do you re-examine your projects and investments regarding climate risks, or are you planning to do so? If so, when will that be, and what will be the extent? If no, why not? On the climate strategy, we have received the following question from Mr. Matthes from Deka Investment: Why does it take so long, more specifically up until 2040, to make your production processes climate neutral? What are the problems? How does Continental ensure comprehensive environment management on the part of its suppliers, and how do you supervise it? On these questions, we would like to comment as follows: As mentioned initially, our climate targets overachieve the sector-specific Paris Climate Agreement targets. Until the end of 2020, we will shift our external energy procurement, as Mr. Degenhart explained, in global production to renewable energies, and we do so by obtaining certificates of origin.
This will lead to our own emissions, a reduction of up to 70%. By 2040, we intend to make sure that our own production processes and up until 2050, the entire value chain will become climate neutral. This means that we are proceeding more quickly than many of our competitors. We are still examining whether or not to submit our targets with the Science-Based Targets Initiative. When it comes to assessing projects and investments, climate aspects are always considered, and this process is further developed continually because climate risks are part of risk management. For any suppliers, we are defining sustainability requirements along the lines of our Code of Conduct for Business Partners. Compliance with these requirements is assessed by way of self-disclosures via the recognized sustainability platforms, EcoVadis and NQC.
The Association of Ethical Shareholders also points out that Continental is not fully meeting the UN guiding principles on business and human rights. In that context, quotes a study from the Business and Human Rights Resource Center and the ZHAW School of Management and Law, according to which from 20 large groups, six companies are in a better position than Continental. The association asks how the executive board is going to make sure that the UN guiding principles will fully be met. Let me make this quite clear. Continental fully commits itself to the UN guiding principles on business and human rights and to the core labor standards of ILO. And also, you know, I used to work with the ILO in a previous point in my career.
We do have a two-tiered and inclusive management approach, which is both geared towards our own locations and the supply chain. The group sustainability department coordinates the improvement of this management approach. The Association of Ethical Shareholders also asks how many audits to verify the supplier self-disclosures relating to compliance with human rights and environmental standards were conducted in the last fiscal year and what deficiencies were identified at which suppliers. Compliance with self-disclosures is assessed by way of the aforementioned self-disclosures via the sustainability platforms, EcoVadis and NQC. These platforms also do more far-reaching disclosures, such as verification of the validity of certificates. Above that, we did only do a small number of selected sustainability audits, and please bear with us that we cannot make public statements on selected suppliers.
Now, there is a big number of questions from the Association of Ethical Shareholders, which are related to business relations between Quantitech, OCP, Morocco on the supply of conveyor belts. Now, for you to better understand this question, dear shareholders, we would like to make the following upfront explanations without supporting these statements ourselves. Now, the Association of Ethical Shareholders has explained that non-governmental organizations repeatedly asked Continental to stop the activities linked to the conveyor belt in the occupied Western Sahara region. It is alleged that the conveyor belt, more than 100 kilometers, which transports phosphate to the coast, was partly built with the help of Continental in 1971, and it is alleged that Quantitech is still supplying replacement belts.
The extraction of mineral resources without the explicit approval of the Sahrawi people, according to the UN Under-Secretary-General and Chief Legal Advisor Hans Corell, constitutes a violation of international law. With the expiry of the contract as of June 30th, 2020, Quantitech would have had the opportunity to exit this business. The representative of the Sahrawi people, Frente Polisario, wrote a letter in March of this year to Continental, making quite clear that the Sahrawi people never approved of the activities of Continental in the region. The subsidiary of OCP, Phosboucra, was planning to extend and upgrade the infrastructure in the occupied Western Sahara region. In cooperation with Western Sahara Resource Watch, the Ethical Association of Ethical Shareholders asked the following question: Has the supply contract with OCP been extended? If so, what is the term?
Is it still possible that replacement conveyor belts that you have pledged to OCP by way of a contract will still be used in the conveyor belt system in the Bucra mine in the Western Sahara region? If the contract has not been extended, will you ensure by way of a contract that the use of your replacement conveyor belts will not take place in the occupied area? If the contract is extended, how does Continental justify this in the context of the legal opinion by Hans Corell and the explicit rejection by the Sahrawi people of your activities? Do you intend to try and obtain the approval of Frente Polisario if your future economic activities were to allow for the extraction and export of phosphate from the occupied Western Sahara region by your providing replacement conveyor belts?
Does Continental rule out that products of the company might still be used in the context of an expansion of the mine? Can Quantitech guarantee that the current supply contract in the event of an extension might not be complemented by maintenance clauses which include the facilities in the Western Sahara? Mr. Werning from Union Investment also asked whether Quantitech is verifying these business transactions like other companies did. Now, we would like to try and answer as follows. We would like to point out that Continental is not economically active in the Western Sahara, and it does not supply anything to Western Sahara, and this won't be changed. The supply contract you mentioned has not been extended. Whether or not a new contract will be concluded and what the content might be, we cannot tell you anything about that for the time being.
Discussions are still ongoing, and please bear with us. We cannot disclose any details from the current talks. The status of the Western Sahara region has been unsolved for many decades. Like many other interested parties, we are hoping for a peaceful solution of the overall situation. We deeply regret the fact that after all this time, a political solution is still not in sight despite all the efforts underway. Our business activities do not have any political background. Together with the international community and the United Nations, we also would like to see adequate political processes to bring about a peaceful solution to this conflict which is still going on for the benefit of the people in the Western Sahara. We will now continue with answering the questions by Mr. Matthes on behalf of Deka Investment. On that note, I'd like to hand over to Elmar Degenhart.
Thank you very much, Ariane. Mr. Matthes asks: For 2020, Continental reckons with sales and revenue clearly below previous year's levels. Which business units will be hit strongest because of the corona crisis, and which will be hit least? When can the revenue situation in individual units be improved? Can Continental come through the crisis without any state aid? We would like to answer as follows: All the business units have seen a clear decline. The OEM automotive business in all of our business units is hit hardest. Negative influence on the spare parts and industrial business are also substantial. As explained before, the month of April, as regards sales and revenue, was the weakest month. May was above April. June was above May, but June is still clearly below previous year's levels.
For next month, suppose that there won't be any tighter corona measures, a slight recovery, but always below previous fiscal year's level. The number of worldwide produced cars is only increasing slowly from our, according to our estimate, latest, and after 2025, we will reach the level that we had in 2017. We have already explained that Continental can come through the crisis without any state assistance. Our balance sheet structure and liquidity are very solid. With the three bonds placed on the capital market this year, we'll get a total of above EUR 2.1 billion. In addition, we expanded our credit facility by EUR 3 billion. In the context of the structural program 2019 through to 2029, further measures, Mr. Matthes asks the following questions: The structural program transformation 2019-2029 has the target to reduce gross costs from 2023 onwards by about EUR 500 million per year.
What's the status of the implementation of the program? How much of the planned EUR 500 million gross savings are there in net terms? Apart from the structural program, Continental comes up with further measures that should have a short-term effect: shortening investment, reduction of liquid assets, reduction of personnel and operating expenditure. Which amount is supposed to be saved with these measures? Are the savings just temporary or long-term? Can planned investment reductions lead to opportunities for the future to be missed? What do these measures mean for reducing jobs? Our answers here. With a view to the overall transformation of the automotive industry, our structure program announced in September 2019, called Transformation 2019-2029, will stay our most important means, and the implementation we move forward consistently. Thus, since 2019, we have started designing our biggest transformation and realign ourselves.
This is true for our technologies and also for our organization. We are pursuing a strategy up until 2029. It consists of three parts. Firstly, we are adapting our portfolio. Everything that doesn't create value on a permanent basis doesn't have a future. The part that's growing profitably will be expanded. Secondly, as a match to that, we optimize our global production compound. Thirdly, we accelerate our structures and make our structures even leaner. The program has a mid-term to long-term focus and will secure our future viability. At the same time, it promotes sustainable strengthening of our mid and long-term competitiveness worldwide. Our target is to improve our profitability with the structural program. From 2023 onwards, we expect the major part to have an effect on the result. Investment will be reduced in 2020 by at least 20% year on year.
Current assets, we will possibly adapt to the sales development because we do not yet foresee the sales development in the fourth quarter. A statement on working capital at year's end is not yet possible. The operational and personnel costs were adapted at the beginning of the corona crisis. We had preliminary plant closures, short-term work, reduction of working time, reduction of traveling expenses, events, and the like. As a whole, we expect that our fixed costs in 2020 will be below the level of 2019. Part of the measures, like short-term work, are of short-term nature, while other measures will be effective beyond 2020, depending on the business development. Each and every investment decision will be taken with a view to the future opportunities and risks. Carefully looked at, lower sales expectations lead to lower investment.
Investment that can be laid into the future will be analyzed very precisely at the moment. By no means do we want to miss opportunities. As Ariane Reinhart said before, in the framework of our program for transformation in September 2019, we announced that in the next 10 years worldwide, probably up to 20,000 jobs of about 240,000 jobs now will be hit by changes. This will include about 7,000 jobs in Germany. By now, we have changed about 3,000 jobs. Two-thirds of the people concerned have left the company. As announced beginning of March at the moment, with a view to the markets that are getting worse and maybe also in the mid-run, further measures are being checked. Coronavirus, unfortunately, is a further problem for and means more economic decline of our industries. Therefore, we are adjusting our overarching cost structures.
We are reducing overcapacities and come up with further measures with short-term effects, and we also change the working and operating costs. We are saving further money. We're talking about a couple of hundred million euros. This contribution or this sum goes beyond what we have decided upon already. It will have an effect up until 2022. As explained extensively, we are in close contact with the representatives from our employees. Potential compulsory redundancies, as we said, would be the means of the last resort. On electronics and software, Mr. Matthes says that the most important step on the way towards a unified operating system is a completely new car electronic system, and that automotive manufacturers BMW, Daimler, and Volkswagen, independent of each other, work on own operating systems.
Matthes asks in how far Continental is involved with electronics, with the control units and the software, and he means the operating system or operating systems. In how far is Continental included in the development of the automotive manufacturers? Would it make sense for Continental to develop its own operating system and then offer it for license use? Further question of a shareholder says, can software replace car hardware or make it completely superfluous? Here we would like to say that Continental is a long-term and highly regarded development partner of almost all the well-known automotive manufacturers, in particular a very close partner of the German automotive manufacturers for the development of electronics, control units, and software. Because of its complete automotive portfolio and the system understanding, Continental is a close partner in the development of future car and vehicle architectures and their core pieces, the high-performance computers.
In a physical sense, software cannot replace car hardware. Each and every piece of software is operated on a piece of hardware. This is not just true for today's computers, but also for quantum computers in the future. Hardware and software design, therefore, have always to be aligned. Continental can do both, and this is one of our strategic advantages. Continental and its subsidiary company Elektrobit for decades have developed control units with operating systems and thus have an excellent basis to develop an entire software framework, including an operating system. The new generation of high-performance computers to bring those on the road is going to be a joint effort by automotive manufacturers and technology companies the likes of Continental. In doing so, the differentiating parts for automotive manufacturers and brands will stay under the control of OEMs.
In the significantly growing overall extent of software, in particular in the software shares that are not differentiating for OEMs, Continental even today offers lots of software products for license use and will significantly expand this position in the future. Irrespective of that, Continental will also further drive forward the hardware business and optimize it because it's strong in profit. On assisted automatic and autonomous driving, Mr. Matthes asks which influence has the Corona crisis on the demand for highly automated driving systems? Which product launches on the part of the OEMs are further developed and which are being delayed? Elon Musk promises that the technology for autonomous driving level five will become finalized in 2020 this year. Does Continental know more? In this context, one shareholder asks the following question: How do you estimate the market potential of self-driving cars up until 2030?
Analysts only see very low potential up until 2030. It is too early to assess the effects of the corona crisis on the market launch of highly automated and autonomous driving systems. It is clear, however, this is a very long-term process which leads over numerous stages. The prerequisites for the more and more complex driving situations will mainly be created because of the technical maturity of the product software and technology required for this. Development of components for radars, lidars, ultrasound, and camera systems, including high-performance computers, and the software development happens without any interruption. The focus of our customers in the area of automation currently and in the mid-run will be on a broad introduction of driver assistance function and partially automated driving, the so-called level two plus, which can serve as a platform for future level three up to level five systems.
In the research area, people work on the development of redundant systems that are necessary for levels three and through to five and other highly specified applications for driverless mobility. I'm here referring you to our development platform CUbE as an example. Level five driving would mean that an automatic system can dominate all of the situations in each and every case, those cases that also human beings can dominate. With this definition, from our point of view, true level five driving can only be expected in the far future. Driverless mobility will start in specific areas where the environmental conditions are less complex, in clearly delineated urban areas, on airports, in industrial parks, or on trade fair grounds. These examples would then mean level four driving. This stage would be driverless, consistently so, but it would be limited to the application cases I just mentioned.
We expect first examples on the market from 2022 onwards approximately, and development won't come to a standstill. The way towards fully autonomous driving requires lots of different individual steps that would serve the purpose to dominate the growing level of complexity. The further expansion of the properties of the cars will then probably in subsequent years happen on the basis of the experience made in level four. This is our point of view on the developments to be expected. Please bear with us that we cannot give any comments on our customers or on competitors. Now on to fuel sales. Mr. Matthes says that hydrogen as an energy source is moving up and up, possibly also in the automotive sector. He asks what Continental has to offer all around the fuel cell. Each fuel cell can't be subsystem electric drive.
That doesn't mean no how available is technology in electrification. Also, the fuel cell drives still require a multitude of components that are used in the drive frame of the high-speed engine market, where Vitesco Technology is very well placed. Vitesco Technology has a sensitive know-how on the usability of both technology and components for fuel cells. The extended context is that the electric electro and etc., very complex systems. Vitesco Technology can contribute to a successful development of this technology. Electrical actuators like valves in the air power sensors, such as gas pressure measurement in hydrogen environment and control units, including software based on engine control units. Vitesco Technology is not active in the production of fuel cell stacks. Still, we are closely observing the development on the market because we have functional competencies from traditional fields of business that could be transferred to the fuel cell stack.
With Chemnitz Technical University, we have an excellent partner for testing materials, components, and entire fuel cell systems. Specifically on Vitesco Technologies, Mr. Matthes asks the planned spin-off of Vitesco Technologies has been delayed for the moment. What's the percentage of the sales of Vitesco that goes towards e-mobility? What does the further development of e-mobility look like? Has it to be assumed that the spin-off will be decided by the annual shareholders' meeting next year in 2021? What are the major roadblocks when it comes to the spin-off at Vitesco that still need to be treated? Because of the insourcing of e-components in the automotive manufacturers, is there the danger for Vitesco that business volume will be moved away? We want to give you the following answer on these questions.
The major share of the sales in e-mobility is associated to the electrification technologies unit under the business unit of powertrain technology. Electrification technology corresponds to about 5% of the sales of powertrain technologies. As I already said, or as was already said, we have decided not to carry out the planned spin-off of Vitesco Technologies this year and to only go this way once the market environment has clearly improved and has become firmer. Major work packages on the way towards a potential spin-off are the organizational separation between group and automotive functions for which we are developing organizational concepts, and talks are being led with potential staff members. It's also the IT system separation that needs to be carried out.
Similar, like in traditional businesses with internal combustion technologies, we see diverging trends with different manufacturers when it comes to insourcing strategies in the area of the drivetrain. Because of the broad product portfolio of Vitesco Technologies in electrification, we can offer system solutions or individual components to OEMs adapted to their requirements through the potentially higher content per vehicle for Vitesco Technologies all around the electrified drivetrain. Even with a partial insourcing of OEMs, this still remains a very interesting and future-oriented business field that we can service because of our diversification. There is a question from Mr. Matthes on working time models, and I would like to ask Ariane Reinhart to answer the question.
Thank you very much, Elma. Mr. Matthes asks, Continental wants to replace short-term work with a collective reduction of working time plus financial support by the state. How realistic is it?
How many jobs can be kept up? The instrument of shortening working time is one of various approaches how companies and employees can be kept healthy in economic terms and be moved to 2025. It would be a so-called corona bridge. We are talking to the employee representatives at the moment in order to talk about the current situation. As regards the question about potential state funding, it was important for us to start a discussion about new labor market instruments. If and whether political decisions come up, that's something which is open for us. We come to the answer to the question that Mr. Werning asked for union investment. Elma, I would like to ask you to answer those questions.
Thank you, Ariane.
Werning asks, "How do you make sure that the area of automotive technologies—How do you make sure that the area of automotive technologies, which in your speech you called the engine room for intelligent mobility, is not being made superfluous in software development by Google, NVIDIA, Tesla, and others?" Connected mobility needs lots of ingredients that need to be adjusted. Apart from software development and data management, aspects like system integration of electronics, mechanics, and software belong to it. The safety technology aspects and validation of registration-relevant processes and tools belong to it. Continental has far-reaching experience and partnerships worldwide in all of these aspects. So the software giants and semiconductor producers from North America are fast, strong in finance, and innovative, but none of the players has all of the necessary capacities and requirements and experience.
Continental consistently moves forward in the area of strength and cooperates with strong partners and innovative small startups in order to add to its competencies. In particular, with a very complete automotive portfolio and the strength as a system integrator, Continental has an excellent starting position to build bridges between consumer electronics and automotive technology, and thus we can co-design mobility of the future. Furthermore, a shareholder asks us how we assess the statement that the real disruptive change for the automotive business will come from Amazon, Google, Waymo, or Apple and the likes. This statement is right in that sense that ride-sharing and fleet management, booking and payment systems are strongly highlighted by digital platforms and the software parts therein. The consumer electronics coming into the car and user experience modules, for example, voice recognition, are mainly marked by the players you mentioned.
However, I would strongly reject the grammar form you used in your question, the time. The disruption has already happened. Now there is the race on that decides who will be the winners and losers of this disruption in the mobility business. Mr. Werning asks, when will the clean vehicle drives have a higher share of the sales at EBIT at Vitesco Technology than the ICE technology? He also asks, does the diesel technology at Continental still have a future? If so, for how long? Which revenue outlook does the e-mobility drive offer, also hydrogen for Continental? So what order of magnitude are we talking about and what time horizon? In the short and mid-term, we will continue to develop and set up production and organization. We'll invest into those in order to service the strong market growth.
In recent years, we have already invested more than $2 billion into e-mobility, and we are in an excellent position. Please understand that as of today, we can't give you any concrete annual figures. On diesel technology, we do not expect a renaissance of internal combustion engines. The technology, however, is here to stay for a longer period of time. Yet, in particular, partially electric, we see major savings potential in emissions. Activities in the hydraulics area and in emissions treatment will not be looked at as a core business for Vitesco Technology, and therefore, within the next decade, after fulfilling the existing orders, this will be ended. In the fuel cell technology, we see a major contribution for CO2-free e-mobility. We observe the market development with a view to future opportunities, and we take a very close look at the development.
For example, through and with Vitesco Technologies, we are active in the H2 Bavaria initiative as a partner in order to actively co-shape the future. For higher volume use in passenger cars, however, an all-area covering availability of H2 hydrogen filling stations will be necessary. Up until then, we have to take it there will be a limited use in defined fleets. All-area covering use of the technology in passenger cars we do not see happening before 2030. The fuel cell as a future technology, however, does play an important role for zero-emission drives of trucks and buses. There, it will most probably come much earlier than 2030 and will be used there. Because of the excellent environmental properties of fuel cell drives, the use in heavy passenger cars and on long distances would be a very meaningful additional alternative for battery electric drives.
Therefore, we cannot understand why this area in the current research subsidies of the federal government on hydrogen does not form a focus. In the use for passenger cars, there is high potential for environmental protection and added value that other countries already support with high sums that they give to research. The last question of Mr. Werning goes to Professor Reitzle. Would you please answer the question?
With pleasure, Mr. Degenhart. Mr. Werning has asked me a question about whether I believe that there will be sufficient independence in the supervisory board beyond 2020. Now, the supervisory board has, according to the recommendations of the German Corporate Governance Code, set objectives for its composition and when it proposes people to be selected from the shareholder representatives as it did for 2019.
Now, these objectives include a sufficient number of shareholder representatives who, according to the shareholder representatives, are independent within the meaning of the code. This will also continue beyond the year 2020. This brings us now to the answering of the questions of other shareholders. Mr. Brehm has asked whether, with the office of a supervisory board member, it is okay not to have appeared in public during the previous two years, as was the case with Ms. Schaeffler-Thumann. As you can see in our publications on the Continental websites, in the last fiscal year, Ms. Schaeffler-Thumann participated in all of the supervisory board meetings and also took place in these meetings this year as well.
Now, I'm sure that the adequacy of serving on the supervisory board cannot be judged by how many times they appear in public, and this criterion has never been mentioned in the Corporate Governance Code. Furthermore, Mr. Kehrer has asked a question that I would like Mr. Degenhart to answer.
Thank you very much, Professor Reitzle. Mr. Kehrer has asked, in the past, time and again, we've heard that Continental is in the midst of a transformation. But even before the coronavirus crisis, everybody was talking about saving money. Now, in which future technologies and markets is Continental investing in order to manage this transformation? We're investing in markets and technologies which we hope will deliver profitable growth. In the technologies, we are primarily focusing on three technological fields. Firstly, in the field of digitalization, and we are thus seeking new business opportunities.
We are now turning over billions today with a growing trend. You can see displays with different animations, smaller computers with greater power, and new services surrounding mobility. Secondly, in the field of assisted and automated driving. This is the platform on which we're building autonomous driving of the future. We're developing this technology for zero accidents and also to have zero fatalities in road traffic. Thirdly, in the field of zero-emission driving. Mr. Norenberg has asked a question, and he has asked whether we have thought about reducing the size of the supervisory board for the future. Mr. Rohrteck has asked why Continental needs 24 supervisory board members. Now, a downsizing of the supervisory board is not something that we're considering. The number of supervisory board members at Continental AG is determined according to statutes under law, including the Corporation Act and also the Code Determination Act.
According to these acts, a company with more than 20,000 employees has to have a supervisory board with co-determination with 10 members per shareholder and employees. Now, Continental AG, as the parent company, was responsible for ensuring this. In Germany, Continental employs 60,000 employees, which means that the supervisory board has to consist of a total of 20 members. Now, with the other four members whose elections are being ratified, they are former members of the supervisory board who were in office until the annual shareholders' meeting in 2019, which was during the previous fiscal year. We have received further questions from Mr. Steckelberg. He would like to know whether Continental tires could not be advertised more effectively, bike tires, that is, and why we are exiting the growth market of electromobility, the e-bike drives that we had started producing. Does that not send out the wrong signal?
Are we not going to be able to turn the profit with this? Now, bike tires and Continental are leading in a number of different regions all over the world. Continental is one of the key sponsors in the largest global cycling events, including as the main sponsor of the Tour de France, which is the world's largest cycling event and has been taking place since 1903 in France. When working with OEMs, we are pursuing a strategy which considers visibility and also the economic viability. An additional strategic component is formed by the focus on trade marketing with the objective of further expanding the placing of Continental bike tires in dedicated shops for cycling equipment and also with attractive offerings for the end consumer. Independent tire tests that take place on a regular basis have demonstrated our technological supremacy for years. Onto the e-bike business now.
At the end of 2019, we exited our e-bike and pedelec systems business. This was a strategic decision which we took from purely commercial reasons. With our business with electrically powered bikes and pedelecs, we would have required too much investment over the long term in order to serve the market adequately. In the relevant markets, we want to be one of the three leading suppliers in terms of customer focus, quality, and market share. In this market, we do not expect profitable growth opportunities until the medium or long term. This is why we are currently investing in other more profitable fields of growth. Now, we'll be looking at we have a question about CUbE. When will we have the road authorization for Robotaxi CUbE? When will we have series production for this first proprietary vehicle and what type of volumes do we anticipate?
Now, the CUbE for us is a development tool for driver assisting systems and also for systems for autonomous driving. With this tool, we are producing sensors, braking systems, electronics, and dry products in order to be able to present these to our customers. The CUbE overall is not a Continental product, which is why here we are not looking to have registration or series production. These authorizations are applied for by the manufacturers of this type of vehicle. Here we have the French shuttle producer, EasyMile, for example, in which Continental has a minority stake in, and we also have an active research and development partnership with them. Furthermore, we have received questions from a shareholder who would like to remain anonymous.
The question is as follows: How do you view the market attractiveness of electric drive systems as an exchangeable standard good with low profit margins which can be produced by a large number of competitors? This is the answer that we have. Electric drive systems are highly complex, and you have electronics, mechatronic systems, and also software expertise, and these different fields are closely interlinked with one another. Now, due to the level of complexity, the number of potential competitors is comparable with the current situation in the field of combustion engines. Another question relates to our corporate culture, and I would like Ariane Reinhart to answer this question.
Yes, I would be happy to do this. The question is, as the company's management, what do you believe? How do you believe you're going to approach this with the play-to-win corporate culture at Continental that you have in other places?
Now, the volatility of the economic environment we're operating in requires a high level of adaptability as well as carefully thinking through scenarios, also for Continental. This necessary agility is being combined with what is also required in terms of reliability. Our corporate culture has its core values, just like the diversity of our global organization. This forms the basis for shaping this transformation at c ontinental, all of the employees share in four corporate values, and these values form the roots of our corporate culture. These four values are trust, passion to win, freedom to act, and for one another. When we're working together, we attach a lot of value to ensuring that these values are generally embraced amongst the employees and the board of management. Every employee is judged according to these criteria.
We spread them across our global network and work together on enhancing them, which is why it allows us to quickly respond to trends and market changes, to use them more quickly than others, and ensure that we can get more effective solutions for our customers. Our last question relates to our share price. I would like Wolfgang Schaeffler to talk about this.
Thank you very much, Ariane.
The shareholder has said that the share prices, such as those of Tesla, are being powered by investors' hopes, and she has asked, "Why do we not have any hope at Continental?" In my response to this question, we are a heavyweight in the automotive sector, and as such, the capital market values Continental similarly to the way it does similar companies such as automotive manufacturers, such as Volkswagen, Daimler, BMW, and suppliers such as Bosch, Denso, Valeo, and also tire and elastomer producers such as Michelin, Goodyear, and Pirelli. If you compare us to the market valuations of these companies, I would say that we do have an adequate valuation. With our current market valuation, however, we are not satisfied. Continental's skills in technological areas, including software and electronics, which have huge market potential, also provide us confidence and hope for the future.
Now, the current valuation of the capital market is considered our job and also to provide you with motivation to ensure that participants can more clearly see our potential for creating value and potential. We have now answered the last of the 76 questions that were sent to us, and I will now hand back to Professor Reitzle.
There are no further questions. I would like to thank all of the shareholders and shareholder representatives who submitted their questions. Ladies and gentlemen, all of the questions sent by our shareholders to the executive board and the supervisory board have now been answered. I would now like the notary public to record this in the minutes. The question and answer session is now closed. This brings us to the vote on the proposed resolutions under items 2 to 7 on the agenda. The voting on agenda items 2.
As I stated earlier, your votes for items 2 to 7 of the agenda can be submitted via the investor portal during the course of this online ASM, either by electronic communication or by giving your vote to one of the company's proxies. I will give you plenty of notice before the voting closes so that you have ample time to cast your votes. I would also like to point out that for each of the resolutions put to a vote today, a simple majority is required and is sufficient. Each share equates to one vote pursuant to Section 20, Paragraph 1 of the Articles of Association.
Please note that in accordance with Section 136 of the Stock Corporation Act, current and former members of the executive board and supervisory board are not permitted to vote on the ratification of their own actions in the voting on items 3 and 4 of the agenda. According to Section 136, the members of the executive board and the supervisory board have been made aware of this. We will repeat these questions. I have 34 and 35. I think Mr. Degenhart has 35. Would you like to start with question 34, Mr. Degenhart?
Yes, I'd be happy to do so. The question, Mr. Denning, was when the clean vehicle drives would generate a higher share of sales and EBIT than combustion technologies, Vitesco Technologies. He also asked whether diesel technology at Continental had a future, and if yes, how long for?
What are the revenue perspectives for the electric drive, including hydrogen for Continental? So in what scale and across what time frame? Now, in the short and medium term, we will continue to invest in the development and building of production capacity and organization in order to serve the significant market growth. In recent years, more than EUR 2 billion has been invested in electric mobility, and we are very well positioned for this. Please understand that as we are today, we will not be able to provide you with any concrete figures. Now, onto diesel technology, we do not expect any renaissance of the combustion engine, but the technology will be with us for a long period of time, particularly with partial electrification. Here, we believe that there is significant potential for reducing emissions.
Activities in hydraulics, as well as in exhaust treatment, are not considered a core technology for Vitesco Technologies, and once our orders have been fulfilled, we will be concluded during the next 10 years. In fuel cell technology, we believe this will make a significant contribution to carbon neutral mobility, electric mobility. We're keeping an eye on market developments with a view to future opportunities, and with Vitesco Technologies, we are in the H2 initiative, H2 buyer as a partner in order to actively shape the future. For higher volume use in passenger cars, however, we will need widespread availability of hydrogen filling stations. Here, limited use in defined fleets can be assumed. A widespread use of the technologies in passenger cars is not expected prior to 2030.
The fuel cell is a technology for the future that will play a significant role for zero-emission drive systems for trucks and buses, and here, it's expected that they will be implemented far long before 2030. Now, due to the exceptional environmental characteristics of fuel cell drives, their use in heavy passenger cars and also in the long distances, they would certainly make sense as an enhancement to battery-supported electric drives. However, for this reason, we cannot understand why the federal government and its funding is not focusing on this with hydrogen. When used for passenger cars, there is significant potential for protecting the environment and generating value, and other countries have always also recognized this and provided the requisite funding. The last question for Mr. Denning is directed towards Professor Reitzle. If you could answer the question, please.
I'll be happy to do so, Mr. Degenhart.
Vernon has asked a question to me about what I believe for the year 2020 will have sufficient independence in the supervisory board. The supervisory board has followed the recommendations of the Common Corporate Governance Code to set out goals for its composition and with its proposals for the election of shareholder representatives by the ASM. This has been taken into account. This last took place at the election in 2019. These goals also include an adequate number of shareholder representatives who the shareholder representatives consider to be independent within the meaning of this code. The objective will be pursued beyond 2020 as well. This brings us to the answering of the questions of other shareholders. Mr. Brehm has asked whether it's okay for a supervisory board, like in the case of Schaeffler Thumann, not to have appeared in public in the last two years.
As you can see in the publications we have on Continental's website, Ms. Schaeffler Thumann participated in all of the supervisory board meetings last year and also this year. Now, fulfilling a supervisory board mandate has nothing to do with how many public appearances you make. I'm sure you will agree. Furthermore, this type of criterion has never been included in the corporate governance code. We also received a question from Mr. Kehrer, and I would like to ask Mr. Degenhart to answer this question for me, please.
Thank you very much, Mr. Reitzle. Mr. Kehrer is asking that in the past, it was always talk about Continental being in the midst of a transformation. However, it was before the corona crisis already that you only talked about savings and making savings.
What are the future technologies and markets that Continental is investing in in order to bring about the transformation? We do invest in markets and technologies that we believe will deliver profitable growth. When it comes to technologies, we especially concentrate on three technological fields. First of all, digitalization. Here, we are making full use of future opportunities, business opportunities, and we are already generating billions in that area, and it's growing. Examples of that are animated displays, small high-performing computers, and new services around mobility. They've just described the shareholders, i.e., IHO Beteiligungs GmbH and IHO Verwaltungs GmbH, have informed us that they will refrain from voting on the ratification of the acts of current and former supervisory board members, namely Maria-Elisabeth Schaeffler-Thumann, Mr. Georg F. W. Schaeffler, Mr. Klaus Rosenfeld, and Professor Peter Gutzmann.
Both of the companies will abstain in the vote on the ratification of the acts of the aforementioned people. Ladies and gentlemen, as chairman of the meeting, I'm responsible for establishing the voting format for this AGM. This year, for the first time, we will be applying the addition method to determine the results of the vote. Now, for the addition method, all of the valid yes and no votes are counted to determine the results of the vote. The number of votes cast appropriately is calculated by adding together the yes and no votes. Abstentions are not counted as they are not relevant in determining the required majority. So there have to be more yes than no votes for a resolution to be adopted.
Dear shareholders, if you wish to vote in favor of one or more than one or all of the resolutions proposed by the management, you have to vote yes for the respective resolutions or for all of the resolutions. If, however, you wish to vote against one, more than one or all of the resolutions proposed by management, you have to vote no for the respective resolutions or for all of the resolutions. Abstentions, as already mentioned, are not counted during the vote count. I'd also like to emphasize the shareholders must have either cast a vote prior or during the AGM, and the opportunity to do so remains until the vote is closed in order to participate in the voting process. As I stated earlier, voting rights may only be exercised via the investor portal for the duration of the AGM.
I would therefore like to ask all shareholders to check that they are logged into the investor portal to ensure that they can cast their vote and exercise their shareholders' rights before the deadline expires. If you submitted your vote prior to the AGM, either in written form or by giving your proxy and voting instructions to the company-appointed proxy holders, you still have the opportunity to vote via the investor portal, thus overriding or changing your initial vote or proxy instructions. This option is also available to shareholders who've already voted electronically via the investor portal. For the minutes, I'd like to state that the proxy votes have been authorized to allow the company-appointed proxy holders to whom you've given your proxies to vote on each of the proposals in accordance with your instructions.
All votes that were submitted by the deadline via post, fax, and email will also be counted. Dear shareholders, I now put management's proposal on items 2 to 7 of the agenda as published in the Federal Gazette to vote and ask you, if you have not already done so, to cast your vote. It is now 12:48. I hereby announce that the voting will close at 12:53. That is in about five minutes. After this time, it will technically no longer be possible to exercise your right to vote. The voting will not be reopened, so the AGM will be resumed at 12:53.
[Foreign language]Ein Herzschlag macht uns mobil. Wir erleben und werden in seinem Takt. Wir streben, treibt uns durch die Zeit. Der erste Schritt ist nur einer von vielen. Wir wachsen und sind agil. Wir dehnen die Grenze zum Unmöglichen aus. Ein Atemzug führt sich zum Sturm.
Mächtig genug, die Welt. Was immer sich uns in den Weg stellt, wir finden viele Wege in die Zukunft. Den gesunden Lebensraum denken wir voraus und erfinden uns dabei für die Mobilität der Menschen immer wieder neu. Vernetzt, automatisiert, elektrisch, menschlich. Ihre Mobilität und ihre Freiheit, dafür schlägt es. Unser Herz. Durch die Gelegenheit und durch die eigene Überzeugung, dass man richtig unterwegs ist, kann man einfach große Dinge schaffen. Mein Name ist Carla Recker. Ich arbeite im Bereich der Materialentwicklung und Industrialisierung. Der Obertitel ist Taraxagum. Das dreht sich darum, eine neue Naturkautschukquelle zu etablieren. Wir wollen aus Löwenzahn Naturkautschuk gewinnen, den wir lokal anbauen können bei unseren Fabriken. Wir gehen davon aus, dass wir Naturkautschuk zunehmend brauchen, dass der Markt für Naturkautschuk wächst, weil einfach der Reifenmarkt wächst. Da brauchen wir Alternativen.
Was noch dazu kommt, ist, dass wir mit dem Anbau von Löwenzahn etwas kurzfristiger auf Bedarfswechsel reagieren können. Wir haben hier ein einjähriges System im Vergleich zu einer Naturkautschukplantage. Da habe ich sieben, acht Jahre Vorlaufzeit, und ich entscheide mich, wenn ich sie anlege, für einen Zeitraum über 30 Jahre. Am Anfang des Projektes war es so, dass uns ganz viele Leute belächelt haben. Ach, du bist ja komplett verrückt. Löwenzahn als Naturkautschukquelle, das kann gar nicht sein. Mit dem ersten Prototypen, den ersten Reifen, den alle anfassen konnten, war eigentlich ein Großteil der Überzeugungsarbeit geleistet. Ja, das kann tatsächlich funktionieren. Die Vision in der Zukunft ist, dass wir eine Fabrik haben, aus der Löwenzahnkautschuk rauskommt, den wir für unsere Reifen verwenden können. Wir sind immer auf der Suche nach dem Ungewöhnlichen, nie auf dem Gewöhnlichen. Meine sehr verehrten Damen und Herren, wir setzen die Hauptversammlung nun fort.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are continuing the AGM now. I state that all shareholders and shareholder representatives who have been properly logged in and had the opportunities to cast their votes via postal ballot or by proxy hereby close the voting process and ask that the function for casting votes and for giving votes to proxy holders be deactivated in the shareholders' portal. I would now like to ask proxy holders to exercise the proxies and instructions issued to them and cast their vote by releasing the proxy votes and instructions. Please provide verbal confirmation to me and the notary that you have authorized the votes and released the votes as instructed by the issuers of the proxies. The authorized and released yes and no votes will then be added to the yes and no votes submitted by post and those cast by electronic communication via the investor portal.
Can you give me a sign? Yes. Thank you very much. I note that all of the proxy holders now have had the opportunity to cast and release the votes that were given to them along with the shareholders' voting instructions. I thus hereby close the voting process and ask that the votes now be counted. Please bear with us, ladies and gentlemen, while the count takes place. We shall now take a break until the votes have been counted. Votes will be counted using a data processing system. The count will be overseen by the notary. This will take approximately 15 minutes, and I will make an announcement when we are ready to resume the AGM. Thank you.
[Foreign language] Der Tag, an dem das irgendwann möglich ist, den erwarte ich, und der wirkt manchmal noch so lange hin, aber irgendwann ist der da, und dann werde ich mich darüber freuen, dass ich daran einen Beitrag geleistet habe. Ich bin Olga Tessier, arbeite als Testing and Validation Lead Engineer bei ADAS. Das automatisierte Fahren ist für mich das spannendste Thema in unserem Themenbereich. In der alltäglichen Arbeit merkt man aber auch, wie komplex so etwas ist, wie gut das durchdacht werden muss. Man sieht richtig, die Leute, die an diesen Themen arbeiten, brennen dafür. Alle haben Bock, gemeinsam was zu machen. Ich kümmere mich um alles Mögliche Organisatorische, was den Bereich Versuch angeht. Wie kriegen wir die Anforderungen implementiert und im Fahrzeug validiert? Da gibt es virtuelle Tests in der Simulation oder auch ganz zum Schluss der Kette Versuche im Fahrzeug. Wer muss mit wem zusammenarbeiten?
Diese Menschen bringe ich zusammen. Ich habe hier ganz schnell gelernt, man ist sein eigener Herr. Man muss für seine Bedürfnisse und Interessen einstehen, und wenn man die ganz klar äußert, dann hat man hier alle Möglichkeiten dazu. Dann unterstützt einen das Unternehmen, der beste Arbeitnehmer zu sein, der man sein kann, in genau seinen Stärken. Ich würde allen Menschen, die sich für Fahrassistenz interessieren, die sich für Fahrzeuge interessieren, die sich vor allen Dingen auch für die Zukunft des Fahrens interessieren, empfehlen, zu uns zu kommen, weil wir das genau jetzt hier mitgestalten. Wir verbinden die beiden Grundstücke miteinander mit dem schönen Brückenschlag über die Hans-Böckler-Allee. Das ist für uns ein Symbol der Verbindung, der Vernetzung, und ich denke, es ist ein wirklich gutes Signal für Hannover, dass wir sozusagen die Einfahrt in die Stadt jetzt auch überbrücken. Die Brücke hat uns Kopfzerbrechen gemacht.
Wie schafft man es, zwei Gebäudeteile, die 70 Meter auseinander stehen, miteinander zu verbinden über eine Straße, die eine Hauptschlagader in die Stadt Hannover ist? Wir haben hier insgesamt sechs Autokrane. Davon sind drei 200-Tonnen-Autokrane, ein 250-Tonnen-Autokran. Wir arbeiten hier mit insgesamt vier Teleskoparbeitsbühnen, zwei Scherenbühnen. Alleine die ganze Gerätekonstellation, das so in der Form, ist schon extrem außergewöhnlich. Dann verbauen wir hier an einem Wochenende fast 200 Tonnen Stahl. Das ist definitiv nicht alltäglich. Das ist eine wahnsinnige Leistung, nicht nur vom Stahlbauer, sondern natürlich auch von den Kranführern, die natürlich ein extrem sicheres Händchen haben müssen, dass das auch wirklich funktioniert und die Träger ineinander passen. Wir sind mit dem Bauen knapp zur Hälfte fertig und mit dem gesamten Planungsprozess schon drei Viertel, wenn ich es mal so ganz grob sagen darf.
Jetzt muss natürlich dann noch eine Schutzeinhausung über die Brücke gebaut werden, damit dann später die Fassade montiert werden kann. Das ist das letzte Stück der Fassade, was montiert wird. Sonst denke ich, sind wir aber genau gut dabei. Mittlerweile wirkt das Gebäude auch wirklich als ein Landmark, so wie wir es eigentlich geplant haben. Wir sind sehr zufrieden. Die Risiken im Straßenverkehr für Radfahrer sind ein weltweites Problem. Allein in Deutschland sind laut einer Studie etwa ein Drittel der jährlich im Straßenverkehr getöteten Radfahrer Opfer von Abbiegeunfällen. Für neu zugelassene LKW wird der Einbau von Abbiegeassistenten ab 2022 EU-weit Pflicht. Doch für PKW ist noch keine verbindliche Regelung in Sicht. Dabei gibt es jetzt schon Lösungen. Radarsensoren am Auto erkennen beim Abbiegen einen geradeaus fahrenden Radfahrer auf der rechten Fahrzeugseite. Sie geben eine Warnung an den Autofahrer ab. Reagiert dieser nicht, wird eine Notbremsung eingeleitet.
Das Auto stoppt, ehe es zu einem Zusammenprall kommt. Technologien, auch diese Unfälle zu vermeiden, sind bereits vorhanden und werden ständig optimiert. Gerade in Deutschland ereignen sich 11% aller Unfälle zwischen Radfahrern und Autos genau bei diesen Rechtsabbiegesituationen. Und welche Technologie steckt dahinter? Unsere jüngsten Radarsensoren sind in der Lage, alles rund um den PKW zu erkennen. Dadurch können wir ohne jeden toten Winkel fahren. Das heißt, der tote Winkel gehört der Vergangenheit an. Experten für Fahrerassistenzsysteme arbeiten intensiv an den kommenden Generationen des Rechtsabbiegeassistenten für beide Fahrzeugklassen. Schon heute bietet Continental diese radarbasierten Systeme serienreif an. Der Traum vom unfallfreien Straßenverkehr der Zukunft rückt mit dem Abbiegeassistenten einen Schritt näher. Ein Herzschlag macht uns mobil. Wir leben und werden in seinem Takt. Wir streben, treibt uns durch die Zeit. Der erste Schritt ist nur einer von vielen. Wir wachsen und sind agil. Wir dehnen die Grenze zum Unmöglichen aus.
Ein Atemzug führt sie zum Sturm. Mächtig genug, die Welt anzufeuern in eine nachhaltige Zukunft. Wir haben gelernt, uns zu vernetzen, uns gegenseitig zu beflügeln. Was immer sich uns in den Weg stellt, wir finden viele Wege in die Zukunft. Den gesunden Lebensraum denken wir voraus und erfinden uns dabei für die Mobilität der Menschen immer wieder neu. Vernetzt. Automatisiert. Elektrisch. Menschlich. Ihre Mobilität und ihre Freiheit. Dafür schlägt es, unser Herz. Durch die Gelegenheit und durch die eigene Überzeugung, dass man richtig unterwegs ist, kann man einfach große Dinge schaffen. Mein Name ist Karla Recker. Ich arbeite im Bereich der Materialentwicklung und Industrialisierung. Der Obertitel ist Taraxagum. Das dreht sich darum, eine neue Naturkautschukquelle zu etablieren. Wir wollen aus Löwenzahn Naturkautschuk gewinnen, den wir lokal anbauen können bei unseren Fabriken.
Wir gehen davon aus, dass wir Naturkautschuk zunehmend brauchen, dass der Markt für Naturkautschuk wächst, weil einfach der Reifenmarkt wächst. Da brauchen wir Alternativen. Was noch dazu kommt, ist, dass wir mit dem Anbau von Löwenzahn etwas kurzfristiger auf Bedarfswechsel reagieren können. Wir haben hier ein einjähriges System im Vergleich zu einer Naturkautschukplantage. Da habe ich sieben, acht Jahre Vorlaufzeit, und ich entscheide mich, wenn ich sie anlege, für einen Zeitraum über 30 Jahre. Am Anfang des Projektes war es so, dass uns ganz viele Leute belächelt haben. Ach, du bist ja komplett verrückt. Löwenzahn als Naturkautschukquelle, das kann gar nicht sein. Mit dem ersten Prototypen, den ersten Reifen, den alle anfassen konnten, war eigentlich ein Großteil der Überzeugungsarbeit geleistet. Ja, das kann tatsächlich funktionieren. Die Vision in der Zukunft ist, dass wir eine Fabrik haben, aus der Löwenzahnkautschuk rauskommt, den wir für unsere Reifen verwenden können.
Wir sind immer auf der Suche nach dem Ungewöhnlichen, nie auf der Suche nach dem Gewöhnlichen. Meine Damen und Herren, die Auszählung der zu den Tagesordnungspunkten 2 bis 7 ist nun abgeschlossen.
Ladies and gentlemen, the voting on items 2 to 7 of the agenda has now been counted. The AGM is resumed, and I shall now announce the results. I shall now announce the results of the resolutions taken. It was not to the number of resolutions that were to be taken and the individual ratification of the acts of the members of the Executive Board and Supervisory Board. I will not read out the full text of the resolutions to be decided upon. The full text and the full results will be made available on the website.
We decide on the resolutions of the proposals posed by the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board as published in the Federal Gazette on the 5th of June 2020. I state and resolve on item number 2, resolution on the appropriation of the net income. The AGM accepted this proposal with the required majority. On item number 3 of the agenda, which is a resolution on the ratification of the acts of the Executive Board, and ratification of the acts was approved with the required majority for Mr. Degginger, Mr. Duensing, Mr. Jourdan, Mr. Kötz, Mr. Matschi, Ms. Reinhard, Mr. Schaeffler and Mr. Setzer. On item number 4, the agenda resolution on the ratification of the acts of the Supervisory Board for the business year 2019, the AGM also ratified the acts of all members of the Supervisory Board with the required majority. These are Mr.
Reitzle, this is myself and I, Mr. Allak, Ms. Benner, Mr. Dunkel, Mr. Crioli, Professor Dr. Gutzmer, Mr. Iglhaut, Mr. Khatu, Ms. Knauf, Professor Dr. Mangold, Frau Ms. Neuss, Mr. Nonnenmacher, Mr. Nordmann, Mr. Pfau, Mr. Rosenfeld, Mr. Schäffler, Ms. Schäffler-Thumann, Mr. Schönfelder, Mr. Scholz, Ms. Völkel, Ms. Falten, Ms. Volkmann, Mr. Wörle and Professor Wolf. On item number 5 of the agenda, this is the resolution on the auditor and the group auditor and the interim review for the business year 2020. The AGM approved of the proposal with the required majority. On item number 6 on the agenda, this is a resolution on the approval of the remuneration system for executive board members. Also, this was accepted with the required majority.
On item number 7, resolution on the remuneration of the Supervisory Board in conjunction with the resolution on the corresponding amendment to the articles of association of Continental Aktiengesellschaft with the wording as announced in the Federal Gazette. Also, this proposal was accepted with the required majority by the AGM. An overview on the votes, cars to be cited versus cars, and the full results of the voting process on the basis of Section 130 of the Stock Corporation Law will be handed over to the notary public for recording. Also, the adopted voting results, including the statutory information required by law, will shortly be published on the company's website. Ladies and gentlemen, this brings us to the end of today's AGM. Let me remind you that objections to the notary's minutes can be filed via the investor portal until the end of the AGM. It's now 1:14 PM.
When it comes to handing in objections and to filing objections, you have another three minutes. This is until 13:17. If you want to hand in an objection, please make use of the button provided for this purpose on the investor portal. Ladies and gentlemen, I hereby close today's AGM. I would like to thank you for joining in this virtual AGM and thus expressing your interest and loyalty with our company. I also trust you appreciate that given the current situation, we felt it necessary to hold this year's AGM nearly without any incident. I would especially like to thank the employees at Continental who prepared today's AGM and helped ensure that things went smoothly. Switching from an established AGM format to organize an online AGM was a significant challenge, but one which our staff has done a pretty good job in overcoming.
The next AGM is scheduled to take place on the April 29th, 2021. I hope that we'll be able to see each other again in person and wish you all the best for today. Thank you very much and goodbye.