Liebe Aktionärinnen und Aktionäre, dear shareholders, dear shareholder representatives, ladies and gentlemen. On behalf of the Supervisory Board and the Board of Management, I'd like to welcome you all, and I hereby open the 2023 annual general meeting of Daimler Truck Holding AG. As Chairman of the Supervisory Board, I will chair the meeting in accordance with the articles of incorporation. Today, we report to you on our first full financial year as an independent, listed DAX 40 company. On behalf of the Supervisory Board and the Board of Management, I would like to welcome all shareholders and their proxies, as well as all other guests who are following our annual general meeting on the Internet. I hope you're all healthy and well. Before I begin my remarks, I would like to emphasize that diversity, equal opportunities, and inclusion are important to us at Daimler Truck.
For this reason, we largely use gender-neutral language in the context of the annual general meeting. In the interest of comprehensibility and in compliance with legal formulations, for example, fixed terms, we will resort to the generic masculine in some places in today's speeches and presentations. In these cases, the chosen terms fully include all gender identities. Our virtual annual general meeting today takes place in the Carl Benz Arena in Stuttgart. The address is Mercedesstraße 73 D. I welcome here in this room, the Board of Management, Martin Daum, the Chairman of the Board, and Jochen Goetz, the Chief Financial Officer. Sitting on stage next to me, I'd like to welcome the Supervisory Board, Deputy Chairman Michael Brecht sits on the stage with me. Mr. Brecht stands in for me as Chairman of the Meeting if I'm unable to attend.
The other members of the board of management and supervisory board are also here in this hall, and participate in the meeting from a side stage. Only Harald Wilhelm, in coordination with myself as chair of this meeting, will join us later due to urgent business responsibilities. Carmen Klitzsch-Müller and Ray Curry, unfortunately, are unable to attend either in person or virtually due to illness. I hope that both will get well very soon and will be able to join us. Dr. Stefan Sinner, Notary Public, is also present here on this stage to certify the annual general meeting. Our Chief Legal and Compliance Officer, Dr. Thomas Laubert, is also here on this stage. Last but not least, I'd also like to welcome the proxies appointed by the company, Dr. Stefan Schön and Bernhard Hauenschild.
Dear shareholders, before I report to you on the work of the Supervisory Board in the past fiscal year, 2022, let me say a few words, necessary words, about the format and procedure of our Annual General Meeting today. In July 2022, the legislator in Germany created the legal basis for establishing the virtual general meeting on a permanent basis as an equivalent alternative to an in-person general meeting. The new virtual format provides the formal framework to preserve all shareholders' rights and enable an interactive exchange between the Management and the shareholders. This is very important to us, very important indeed. The Board of Management and the Supervisory Board have decided to hold the Annual General Meeting 2023 in this new virtual format, after considering all circumstances, also taking into account the still uncertain pandemic situation at the time of planning.
Today's AGM will therefore take place without the physical presence of shareholders and shareholder representatives, with the exception of the proxies, of course. The aim of the new legal regulations is to transfer the rights from the physical general meeting to the virtual general meeting, in order to align these with the in-person meetings. You can therefore address your speeches, questions, and motions at today's annual general meeting to us, the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board, via the access-protected investor portal, live via video communication during the meeting. I will go into more detail about shareholders' rights later on. At the same time, the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board are proposing to the annual general meeting today to envisage the possibility of holding virtual annual general meetings in the articles of association for the years 2024 and 2025 as well.
I will talk about this amendment to the articles of association in more detail when I present the agenda. This is only a proposal. Today's annual general meeting was convened in due form and time by publication in the Federal Gazette on May 4th, 2023. In addition to the announcement in the Federal Gazette, the convening of the AGM has been communicated to the group of persons named therein in due form and time, in accordance with Article 125 of the German Stock Corporation Act. Since then, the convening notice, with the documents to be made available and further information about the annual general meeting, have also been available on the company's website. Counter motions from shareholders to be made accessible have only been received by the company from the umbrella organization of critical shareholders regarding agenda items three, four, and eight.
These were also published on the company's website at www.daimlertruck.com/HV-2023. There you will also find the statements of the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board, each of which adheres to the resolution proposal submitted by them. Since the counter motions amount to nothing more than the rejection of the respective proposed solutions, there is no need to deal with them any further in the context of voting. You also have the opportunity to send us written comments in advance. We've received a total of 12 statements from shareholders or their proxies that are subject to publication. You can find them in the password-protected investor portal. Ladies and gentlemen, our shareholders and their proxies will be able to follow the entire Annual General Meeting live in picture and sound via the password-protected investor portal for the Annual General Meeting.
This option is available to you regardless of your registration for the AGM. My introductory remarks, as well as those of the chairman of the board, will also be broadcast on the company website for other interested parties. These 2 speeches will be recorded and made available later on the company's website. There you will also find the speech scripts by Martin Daum, the CEO, and myself, which have already been made available to you there prior to today's annual general meeting. The other parts of the annual general meeting will not be recorded. A recording in sound and/or image is not permitted either. We've carefully examined the necessary technical arrangements for the live broadcast together with the commissioned service providers. Of course, we also rehearsed everything. If the live broadcast, however, should be interrupted unexpectedly, please be patient.
If the connection cannot be restored, we will provide you with further information via our investor portal and on the company's website. In case of individual technical problems, please contact our hotline directly. You can find the contact details on the aforementioned company's website. The list of participants can be viewed via the investor portal by registered shareholders or their proxies. The list includes the proxies appointed by the company and the shareholders and shareholder representatives connected to the annual general meeting via the password-protected investor portal. The list will be continuously updated until the end of the annual general meeting. I will provide you with exact attendance figures later. Shareholders who have voted by postal vote or who vote in this way during the annual general meeting will not be listed in the attendance register.
When announcing the attendance, I will also indicate the number of postal votes cast. Please note that only the list visible in the investor portal is valid. Any kind of taking photographs or copying the list of participants, as well as the misuse of the data contained therein, is strictly prohibited. I think this goes without saying. Dear shareholders, the proceedings of our annual general meeting will be as follows: Following my introductory remarks, which of course contain a lot of technical information to begin with, the Chairman of the Board of Management, Martin Daum, will first report to us on the 2022 fiscal year. In the interest of a speedy conduct of the annual general meeting, we will then discuss all items on the agenda in a general debate. Following the general debate, we will vote on agenda items 2 through 8 in one single ballot.
During the general debate, you will have the opportunity to speak live and address your questions on the agenda to the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board, provided that you have duly registered for the Annual General Meeting and are logged in to the access-protected Investor Portal.
The general debate will be held in German, but a simultaneous translation from German into English will be available on the investor portal. I look forward to a lively and active live exchange with you. Ladies and gentlemen, as already announced in the convening notice, I hereby determine that the right to information pursuant to Section 131, paragraph 1 of the German Stock Corporation Act, and the right to ask questions pursuant to Section 131, paragraph 1 B of the German Stock Corporation Act, shall be exercised exclusively by way of video communication. The law already provides that speeches and motions must be made by video communication.
If you would like to speak, ask questions, or propose a motion at the annual general meeting today, please register now at our virtual floor registration desk so that we can roughly estimate how many speakers to expect during the course of today's AGM. You can register your request to speak during the course of the AGM as long as the list of speakers has not been closed. To register a request or to speak or a motion, please use the password-protected investor portal and click on the button, Request to Speak/Motion. Please enter a telephone number in the corresponding input field in the investor portal so that we can contact you in the event of technical problems, which hopefully will not occur.
If you wish to make a motion, please state the subject of the motion when registering to speak so that we can prepare for it. Of course, this is within your very own interest. Please note, however, that the motion is only validly made when you present it in your oral speech, unless it is a counter motion that has already been made available on the company's website prior to the annual general meeting. When we begin with our general debate, I will call the first speakers on the list. If you've registered an intervention with the investor portal, you will be asked to enter the virtual waiting room. We will do a technical check with you to ensure that video communication works. This will be carried out by our technical staff, who will be happy to support you.
This is the only way to ensure the smooth conduct of the AGM, which is in the best interest of all our shareholders. Only then will it be possible to make a live intervention here at the AGM. We ask you to understand that it can take us some time to contact you and allow you to enter the virtual waiting area. It also depends on the number of registered interventions. A live video message at the AGM will only be possible if the technical setup is right between the shareholder and the company. If there is no line or if it fails during the intervention, we will unfortunately need to reject the intervention or stop it ahead of time. Please make sure that you set up everything properly on your end.
We have already made available some tips and recommendations to ensure best operability and to make sure that the technical setup is good for video communication. For the votes following the general debate, I determine that the type and form of the vote is as follows: pursuant to Section 14, subsection 2 of our articles of incorporation. This year, the vote will take place only via the investor portal. Any votes exercised prior to the AGM, by way of postal votes or by way of proxy authorization instructions to the official company proxies, will be taken into consideration. You will get access to the investor portal based on the data submitted to you before the event. You'll be able to cast your vote by way of postal voting, grant proxy authorization, and make instructions to the proxy representatives.
You can also file objections against the resolutions for the record or make other statements. Proxy authorizations and instructions to the proxy representatives and postal votes can be registered via the investor portal until the end of the voting run and until the deadline that I will announce. You can change or withdraw your vote until that time as well. I will inform you of the deadline in good time. The proxy representatives appointed by the company will exercise the voting right exclusively based on the instructions that you've made. We will do a combined ballot for all agenda items. I have a request for you. Please make sure that you cast your vote as soon as possible. For technical reasons, there can be delays in the broadcast.
I will point them out to you in good time and announce the deadline until which you will need to have cast your vote. For the voting process, we will use the addition method, which I will explain to you in more detail. When we announce the voting results, they will be displayed in detail. In my speech, and due to time reasons, I will only make the general announcement that the required majority has been achieved or has not been achieved, unless there are any objections to that procedure during the debate. Any shareholders or shareholder representatives, proxy representatives who have dialed in, can file objections against the resolutions passed by the AGM in the investor portal to be recorded by the notary. They can be made until right before the AGM is adjourned.
I will inform you of the deadline in good time, to allow you enough time to do that. The official company representatives will not file any objections on behalf of shareholders. Much for technical housekeeping, and now I'd like to move on to the next part of the AGM. Estimated shareholders, ladies and gentlemen, last year was very special for Daimler Truck. It was the first full financial year as an independent company. It was a good year and a successful one, in particular, considering the circumstances. Daimler Truck has achieved a lot. 2022 was the most profitable year ever in the corporate history. The course was swiftly set for the transformation to zero-emission vehicles and potential new business models. Focus, efficiency, and speed increased, and that goes to show that becoming independent was absolutely the right thing to do.
Daimler Truck now has its own identity and a clear purpose. For all who keep, for all who keep the world moving, that is the perfect aspiration. It's an important task, and it's also a special responsibility, serving society in a sustainable and profitable way. We are Daimler Truck. Great to have you with us. This is the phrase of an international company which our employees use in order to welcome their customers and partners. We, estimated shareholders, would like to welcome you to today's AGM as our proprietors in the same way. We are Daimler Truck. Great to have you with us. This strong identification and the motivation to drive progress for Daimler Truck is perceivable throughout the company. The dedication resulting from the spin-off from Mercedes-Benz Group allowed great things to happen.
The entire truck team works towards the two big strategic objectives with high levels of determination, leveraging our earnings potential, and there is still some room for improvement in that respect, and which is very important, to be leading in the transformation towards sustainable transportation. One such strategic opportunity, which we communicated recently, in case it will be possible, would be the merger of Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation with Hino Motors, a subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corporation. The merger of the two Japanese companies would allow significantly greater economies of scale and new dimensions in the development of sustainable drive technologies. The result would be a highly capable commercial vehicle manufacturer, serving customers in the Asian market in even better ways, and better able to support them in the transformation to sustainable transformation . Currently, extensive due diligence processes are underway.
I am very confident for the future development of Daimler Truck, in particular, because the 2022 financial year showed that Daimler Truck is able to make important progress, even though the circumstances are challenging. Two of these challenging circumstances were the continuing war in Ukraine and the last throes of COVID-19 in China, in particular. I'm strongly supportive. The entire Supervisory Board has been strongly supportive of the decision that Daimler Truck took to swiftly and rigorously fully suspend business in Russia in light of the brutal Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. I am grateful for the fact that the Daimler Truck team has shown its solidarity by standing by the Ukrainians with extensive relief efforts, both from within and outside the company. The war triggered runaway energy and raw material prices, shortages, and persistent inflation.
China, meanwhile, continued to suffer from the effects of the COVID pandemic. The long-sustained lockdown and the aftermath of the pandemic following the end of the measures, have weakened China's economy and its economic system. This led to further disruptions of global supply chains. Supply chain constraints were still the order of the day in 2022, so, and so was the resolution of these problems. In this volatile global situation, the Daimler Truck team was particularly focused on its operational business, stabilizing it, while continuing to develop its strategy with undiminished commitment. In the 2022 financial year, Daimler Truck placed great emphasis on sustainability with regards to the development of its strategy and positioning. In 2022, the company manufactured eight zero emission truck and bus models in series production. Ladies and gentlemen, estimated shareholders, we have what the world needs in terms of sustainable transportation.
At the same time, the European locations have achieved net carbon neutrality when it comes to their production. Amongst other things, this was due to using CO2-free electricity gained from renewable resources. In retrospect, you can say that in the first full financial year as a listed company, Daimler Truck has made good progress in its operating business, in particular, taking into consideration the challenging circumstances, excellent progress, even. The company was able to benefit from strong demand in its key commercial vehicle markets. Supply chain constraints, though, had a burdening effect. The group achieved its financial targets and improved its profitability. This is also reflected in the key performance indicators, which have all improved over prior year levels, revenue and earnings per share. Earnings per share even grew significantly. The EBIT, earnings before interest and tax, went up to an all-time record, despite pending effects of cost reduction programs.
The stellar business performance of the last year is, above all, and I'd like to make special mention of that here, it is to the credit of the Management and the employees, the entire team. I'd like to express my most sincere thanks for this extraordinary commitment and dedication to the global Daimler Truck team, and on behalf of the entire Supervisory Board. The company would like to share the achievements and the benefits of 2022 with you, its shareholders. Thank you for the trust you've placed in us. The Board of Management and the Supervisory Board of Daimler Truck Holding AG, therefore, propose under agenda item two of the AGM, to pay out a dividend of EUR 1.30 for the past financial year.
Dear shareholders, ladies and gentlemen, in the reporting year, the Supervisory Board held 7 meetings. The detailed report of the Supervisory Board on their activities can be found on pages 12 to 19 of the annual report. You will also find the declaration on corporate governance in the annual report. In the following, I will therefore focus on only a few of the key aspects of the Supervisory Board's work in the past year. The central task of the Supervisory Board, as the term already suggests, is not only to supervise, but above all, to advise the Board of Management. This particularly includes current and future significant topics of corporate governance, sustainability, and the strategic alignment of the company within the technological transformation.
The dialogue with the Board of Management, advising them and supervising them on these crucial matters, was also the main focus of our Supervisory Board work last year. Specifically, we dealt with such topics as the following: the strategy for developing the drive and mobility systems of the future, a sustainable long-term business strategy, the further development of the Board of Management Remuneration System, and of course, the implementation of the new German Corporate Governance Code. Let me elaborate more on these topics now. In 2022, the Supervisory Board, together with the responsible representatives of management, and in particular, the members of the Board of Management, spent significant time on the strategic alignment and direction of the company. The mobility sector is faced with a tremendous transformation. In this regard, the Supervisory Board convened, among other things, a multi-day strategy workshop.
On this occasion, they discussed matters like technology transformation and the sustainability goals of Daimler Truck intensively. The vision is clearly set out. Daimler Truck aims to actively shape the transformation of the commercial vehicle industry, and take a leading position in terms of market share, profitability, and of course, innovation. A core element of this transformation is a technology open innovation strategy. An innovation strategy that's maintaining open view on technology enablers. Daimler Truck is initially focusing on two sustainable drive concepts of batteries and hydrogen. In the field of autonomous driving, the initial focus lies on the American market in the beginning. Let us now turn to a second central topic of the supervisory board work, that's the remuneration system.
If you remember, if you participated at the 2022 annual general meeting, we already announced that the remuneration system for the Board of Management would be further developed. This was also due to the spin-off from Daimler AG, that meant a new focus. We also got your feedback. We broadly implemented the feedback we received from investors and proxy advisors during the corporate governance roadshows. We get lots of comments, we incorporated them and implemented them broadly. A detailed description of the Remuneration System 2023+ proposed for resolution today, was included in the convocation to the annual general meeting. I will address the most important aspects below. First, the basic structure of the previous remuneration system approved by the annual general meeting has been retained. Significant changes relate to the structure of the performance-based short-term and long-term variable remuneration.
The long-term variable remuneration element, the so-called virtual share-based equity plan, will in future be supplemented by non-financial targets. In the short-term variable remuneration element, further non-financial targets will be introduced. In both cases, the long-term and the short-term bonus system, this is mainly employee and environmental-related targets, such as diversity and emission reductions, of course. The financial long-term targets are essentially aligned with the so-called MSCI World Industrials Index. This is really important because this way we create objective transparency, and align the remuneration system of the Board of Management even more closely with the interests of shareholders. In addition, the accountability of the Board of Management members responsible for the individual segments is to be reflected more strongly in the remuneration system in the future.
The financial performance criteria of the annual bonus and the Remuneration System 2023+, as that's what we called it, will therefore be based first on the EBIT of Daimler Truck, and from 2024 onwards, also on the EBIT of the individual segments of Daimler Truck, like in North America , Asia or Mercedes-Benz here on site. In addition, we've also added the free cash flow, the free cash flow of the industrial business. That was really important to us, because only when you have cash are you able to do what you need to do. Only cash counts in the end.
Subject to its approval by today's annual general meeting, the revised Remuneration System 2023, will apply to all serving members of the Board of Management, with a retroactive effect from January 1, 2023, as well as in the case of new appointments and reappointments of board members. In addition, the Supervisory Board continuously discussed key corporate governance matters in the 2022 fiscal year, particularly in light of the amendments to the German Corporate Governance Code in 2022. Therefore, the Supervisory Board decided to make specific adjustments to the rules of procedure for the Supervisory Board and its committees, to make sure that we consider these amendments to the German Corporate Governance Code. These adjustments primarily take into account the focus of the Supervisory Board's supervision and advisory role with regards to environmental, social, and governance topics, or as we call it nowadays, ESG.
That is, issues of social responsibility or responsibility for employees, environmental sustainability and corporate governance, of course. The supervisory board, as a whole, executes a strong advisory and supervision role for this important topic of sustainability. The supervisory board's oversight role assumes all sustainability-related aspects in corporate strategy and business planning, as well as strategic measures with significance for sustainability at Daimler Truck. In addition, various committees, such as the Presidential and Remuneration Committee or the Audit Committee, deal with the sustainability issues in the supporting capacity, also in auditing the results and the other things that we would like to achieve. Following preparation by the Presidential and Remuneration Committee, the supervisory board also carried out a self-assessment of sustainability expertise on the supervisory board. This has revealed a broad spread of sustainability expertise across the entire supervisory board.
Nevertheless, to further develop knowledge in this field, which is a very dynamic field, we would like to develop further knowledge in this field, and for this reason, the Supervisory Board has decided to offer external training measures on ESG. Ladies and gentlemen, estimated shareholders, finally, let me address a very important topic. That's, personnel, HR-related matters. In the course of the current financial year, 2023, the Supervisory Board extended the mandate of Board of Management members, Karin Rådström, she's responsible for Mercedes-Benz Trucks and the regions Europe and Latin America, ahead of time for another 5 years, starting from February 1st, 2024, until January 31st, 2029. Ms. Rådström is doing an outstanding job, in our view, and has successfully developed Mercedes-Benz Trucks in a difficult environment. It's been difficult in many regards. She has looked at the restructuring.
She has set new standards in the development of the performance culture and promotes customer orientation, empowerment, the improvement of decision-making capacities within the organization, and of course, also diversity in particular. We look forward to continuing to work together and shaping sustainable transportation together. As of November 22, 2022, the colleagues, Claudia Peter and Harald Dorn, retired from the Supervisory Board as employee representatives. If you're watching this today, I would like to express my sincere thanks to you, to them, for their ever constructive cooperation. I would also like to welcome the two new members of the Supervisory Board, who replaced the two colleagues, Ms. Andrea Seidel and Raymond, Ray Curry. They have joined the Supervisory Board on the 22nd of November, 2022. Ms. Seidel, Mr. Curry, I look forward to working with you in the future.
As I have already emphasized on several occasions, a close collaboration with the employee representatives on the supervisory board is very important to us. The commercial vehicle sector is facing a powerful transformation. It's powerful in its effects, it's powerful in the technologies it uses, and it's also powerful in terms of the speed. The transformation includes all sectors and segments of the company, and of course, this means huge challenges also to the employees of Daimler Truck. For this reason, the dialogue with employees is so important as part of participation. For that reason, dialogue is such an important basis for shaping this transformation and for implementing the measures for the long-term success of the company.
On behalf of the supervisory board, I would like to thank the approximately 105,000 employees all around the world, in the Daimler Truck world, for their active commitment in the past financial year. They are Daimler Truck. Great to have them with us. I would also like to thank the shareholders, customers, all of our partners, for their trust in the company. Their trust in the company, and of course, their trust in its boards. I would like to thank the entire board of management for their great commitment and achievements over the past year. Someone needs to be the leader, and being board of management means being the leader.
The global Daimler Truck team will continue to work with great dedication to make the vision of sustainable transportation a success in all its facets, with our own identity, self-assurance and self-esteem, power and confidence, and of course, the required skills. The supervisory board looks forward to diligently accompanying this transformation and actively supporting the company. Ladies and gentlemen.
I would like to thank you very much for your attention.
This brings us to the agenda for our Annual General Meeting. 1st, I hereby announce the motion. Well, for item on the agenda number one, it does not require any resolution to be passed. I am also going to pass the floor to Martin Daum. He's going to look at the past fiscal year, and also, I'd like to explain the following. The annual report of Daimler Truck Holding AG, the Group Annual Financial Statements, and the summarized management report of the company and the Group were audited by KPMG AG, Berlin, and were given an unqualified audit opinion.
On March 9, 2023, the Supervisory Board approved the annual financial statements of Daimler Truck Holding AG and the consolidated financial statements after its own review. The 2022 annual financial statements of Daimler Truck Holding AG are thus adopted. Under agenda item 2, the Board of Management and Supervisory Board proposed to the annual shareholders meeting that the unappropriated profit generated in the 2022 financial year be used to pay a dividend of EUR 1.30 per eligible share, and that the remainder of the unappropriated profit be carried forward as profit. Agenda items 3 and 4 deal with the ratification of the actions of the members of the Board of Management and Supervisory Board in office in fiscal year 2022. Agenda item 5 deals with the appointment of the auditors.
The Audit Committee and the Supervisory Board have examined the quality assurance systems, and independence of the auditors. On the basis of this analysis, we are proposing KPMG AG, again, as auditors for the annual and consolidated financial statements for fiscal year 2023, and for the review of interim reports, as well as for fiscal 2024, in the period up to the Annual General Meeting in fiscal 2024. Under agenda item 6, an adjusted remuneration system for the members of the Board of Management is submitted to the Annual General Meeting for approval. I have already outlined the main changes for you. For further information on the remuneration system, please refer to the notice and the convocation of the Annual General Meeting.
The remuneration report of Daimler Truck Holding AG for fiscal year 2020 through 2022, which is submitted to the Annual General Meeting for approval under agenda item 7, has been audited by KPMG to determine whether the legally required disclosures have been made. The remuneration report has been issued with an unqualified audit opinion. It is also available on the company's website. Under agenda item 8.1, the Board of Management and Supervisory Board propose an amendment to the company's articles of incorporation, authorizing the Board of Management to hold annual general meetings in virtual format, also in the next 2 years, and more precisely, until August 31, 2025. The new statutory provision provides for a maximum term of 5 years for such an authorization. We are deliberately not exhausting this term, but limiting the authorization to around 2 years.
This way, we are creating the conditions necessary for us, together with you, to gain initial experience with the new meeting format. The authorization does not expressly rule out the possibility of holding Annual General Meetings in person, however. Rather, for the duration of the authorization, the Board of Management will decide for each Annual General Meeting, taking into account the circumstances which meeting format best serves the interest of the shareholders and the company. Under agenda item 8.2, the Board of Management and Supervisory Board propose yet another amendment to the articles of incorporation concerning the participation of Supervisory Board members in a virtual Annual General Meeting.
In this respect, it seems sensible from the point of view of the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board to allow the members of the Supervisory Board, with the exception of the chairman of the meeting, to participate in the virtual Annual General Meeting by means of video and audio transmission. Much for the overview of today's agenda. Now, I wish us a successful Annual General Meeting, and I will now hand over to the Chairman of the Executive Board, Martin Daum. Martin, you have the floor. Dear shareholders, dear friends of Daimler Truck, on behalf of the entire Board of Management, I'd like to welcome you very warmly to our Annual General Meeting today. I am very much looking forward to the interaction with you. First of all, I'd like to report to you about the great progress we're making at Daimler Truck.
As you know, we have set ourselves two major strategic goals as a company. We aim to unlock our full earnings potential. We aim to lead the transformation of our industry, the historic technological transformation towards sustainable transportation. In other words, we are determined to take Daimler Truck to a new next level. For the benefit of you, our shareholders, for the benefit of our customers and our employees, and last but not least, for the good of the general public as well. To consistently further develop Daimler Truck is a great task, a grand task, and a great journey. It is a journey where we have everything we need to succeed along the way, where we have a tremendous will to make this journey a success, and where we are making very good progress, and have already achieved a great deal.
I would now like to present all of this for you in detail. Let me first of all look into the rearview mirror and look at the key events and results of the 2022 financial year. Here's my first message: Our environment was much more difficult than we had initially anticipated. Whether it was Russia's tragic war against Ukraine, with all its upheavals, high inflation, or even the strained supply chains, none of this could have been foreseen at the beginning of last year. We quickly adapted to this new, complex environment. We made last year a very successful year. A series of figures illustrates this very well: 14, 28, 55. These figures represent our business performance last year. Our unit sales grew by 14%. Despite serious supply bottlenecks, our group revenue increased twice as much, by 28%.
Our adjusted group EBIT, i.e., our operating profit, increased almost twice as much by 55%. 14, 28, 55. This is not only an almost perfect mathematical series of figures, but above all, the result of highly concentrated work and a prime example of profitable growth. Daimler Truck thus achieved a very profitable growth in 2022. Our absolute earnings are also very impressive. Our EBIT, adjusted for special effects, reached just under EUR 4 billion last year. To be precise, EUR 3.959 billion. This is the best result in our company's history. We can be very proud of this achievement, especially in these challenging times. I would therefore like to thank our entire global truck team for this strong performance. This has been a team effort.
Of course, we would like you, our shareholders, to participate in our successful business performance. The Board of Management and Supervisory Board will propose to the Annual General Meeting, a dividend of EUR 1.30 per share for the past financial year. This is our first dividend as a listed company. It's a great premiere, and at the same time, a heartfelt thank you for your confidence in Daimler Truck and in our work. When we now look ahead, we do so confidently, because the very best thing about the best result in our company's history is this: Despite all our successes in recent years, we still have plenty of potential to make further gains in the years ahead. We can, and we will, continue to improve. We've set ourselves very specific, ambitious goals for the course of our journey.
This already applies to the current financial year. In 2023, we want to increase our group revenue yet again, above all, our operating profit. So we want to grow profitably this year as well. Our results for the Q1 of 2023 show that we are very much on track in this regard. In terms of unit sales, group revenue, adjusted operating profit, and many other key figures, we are significantly ahead of last year in the first three months of this year. It is particularly positive that all our segments contributed to this development. Trucks North America, as well as Mercedes-Benz, Trucks Asia, Daimler Buses, and Financial Services. As a result, we have now further improved our profitability step by step. In 2021, we had achieved an adjusted return on sales of 6.1% in our industrial business.
In 2022, it was already 7.7%, and in the Q1 of 2023, we achieved 8.8%. The Q1 of 2023 is therefore the most successful first quarter in the history of Daimler Truck. In addition, the Q1 of a year is generally the weakest quarter for us over the course of the year. I would therefore like to clear up one misunderstanding. The fact that our order intake fell by 11% in the Q1 , has been partially interpreted as a loss of momentum. That is not the case, because the following is important to know: We are virtually sold out for the current year, and in the first few months of this year, our order books for 2024 were not even open yet.
The fact that our order intake has slipped somewhat rarely in this situation is no surprise. Rather, this was to be expected and is of little significance. More importantly, our order backlog remains at a very high level, and all signs from the markets indicate that demand for our vehicles and services will remain strong beyond 2023. This means Daimler Truck continues to have exactly the right momentum. We remain very much on track on our journey, and especially with a view to the profitability ambitions we have set ourselves for 2025. You know, these ambitions from our Annual General Meeting last year, and we remain firmly committed to them. Our entire global organization is embracing this.
Our 2025 ambition states, "In a good market environment," that's the so-called sunny scenario, "we aim to achieve an adjusted return on sales of at least 10% in our industrial business." In a normal market environment, that's our cloudy scenario; we aim to achieve a return of 8%-9%. In a difficult environment, we still aim to generate a return of 6%-7%. This is our rainy scenario. Dear shareholders and friends of Daimler Truck, as you can see, we are working with a high level of concentration, full commitment, and great success to unlock the full earnings potential of our company. This is the 1st major strategic goal we have set ourselves as Daimler Truck on our journey. We have the same determination with our 2nd overarching goal. We want to lead the transformation to sustainable transportation.
As Daimler Truck, we are in the best position possible to achieve this. This applies to our vehicle business, as well as to our service offering and Financial Services. We have global innovative strength. This means that we can always take up new technologies and solutions first in the region that is at the forefront in this respect, and then successfully deploy them in all other regions. As a result, we as Daimler Truck can benefit and learn from each other significantly across the various segments. Each individual segment, therefore, makes a decisive contribution to the success of our journey. When it comes to sustainable transportation, we have set ourselves clear ambitions. By 2030, up to 60% of our unit sales in Europe should be zero-emission vehicles.
From 2039, we want to offer exclusively zero-emission vehicles in Europe, the USA, and Japan. Of course, I understand very well that many people are currently concerned about other issues that have nothing to do with climate change. They're concerned about the war in Ukraine and other geopolitical risks, for example, or about high inflation. This inevitably pushes climate change somewhat in the background, both in the media and the public debate. The fight against climate change hasn't lost none of its urgency. On the contrary, the urgency is continually increasing, as shown by the ever faster rise in average global temperatures. That is why we at Daimler Truck have made a very conscious decision. We want to lead the fight against climate change in our industry, because it is true that trucks and buses account for a significant proportion of global CO2 emissions.
It is also true, and this is sometimes forgotten, trucks and buses are not on the road just for fun. They're on the road to take goods and merchandise to supermarkets, construction sites, or hospitals, or to take people to work, school, or on vacation. They form the backbone of the economy and society. With our trucks and buses, our customers keep the world moving. At Daimler Truck, we are therefore very proud of our products. We're very proud of our commercial vehicles that have such a great benefit, great commercial use for the general public. This leads to two conclusions. 1st, trucks and buses are absolutely indispensable, and not just today, but tomorrow as well. 2ndly, tomorrow, trucks and buses must and will be sustainable. Our entire team is working on this with great passion. There's no question about it.
Taking a leading role in shaping the transformation to sustainable transportation of the future is a very ambitious goal. We know exactly where we want to go. We have a clear compass, and we have everything in our luggage that it will take to make that journey a success. One core element is our technology strategy. At Daimler Truck, we're not just focusing on one sustainable propulsion system, but on two. In parallel with batteries, we are also working on hydrogen. We're talking about a dual strategy here, and I say this with pride: We adopted our hydrogen strategy several years ago, at a time when doubts about this energy were still quite prevalent. I'm very pleased to say that since then, the negative voices have become much quieter, and the positive voices much louder.
It is now widely understood that economies must be able to reliably meet their energy needs in the future. To do so, they must be able to transport and store green energy. Many economies also must be able to import green energy.
In other words, the world needs a sustainable CO2-free energy carrier. The world needs hydrogen. I'm convinced that hydrogen will also play an important role in powering trucks and buses. This quickly becomes clear from a few facts. If zero-emission trucks were powered exclusively by batteries in the future, every highway service area would have to have somewhere between 20 and 50 charging stations. Each charging station would have to be equipped for megawatt charging. In other words, each rest, each area, would have the energy requirements of a small town. Such a charging infrastructure, ladies and gentlemen, doesn't exist. , is wishful thinking.
It's simply not realistic to provide public charging capacities on this scale throughout. This would hopelessly overburden the expansion of the power grid. For this reason alone, we also need hydrogen for trucks in the future in parallel to batteries. On the basis of these two propulsion concepts, we are gradually building up our product portfolio for the future, and we already made great progress in this respect. We had already launched our first battery-powered truck on the market in 2017. Our first battery-powered bus followed a year later in 2018. Since then.
We've been steadily expanding our product family of the future. By the end of 2022, we already had eight different zero-emission trucks and bus models in series production, not only in Europe, but also in the U.S., South America, and Japan. By the end of this year, there will already be 10 zero-emission series production vehicles. In the U.S., we are launching two new all-electric trucks this year that complement each other perfectly with our new RIZON brand. We are serving the six to nine ton segment, and our new Freightliner eM2 occupies the nine to 15 ton segment. We've thus covered all relevant weight classes in this important market. Our Freightliner eCascadia has been in operation in the 15 plus ton segment ever since last year. Ladies and gentlemen, this portfolio for the future is just a preliminary goal on our journey.
We are continuously expanding it. For example, we now also offer our battery electric Mercedes-Benz Citaro city bus as an eCitaro fuel cell, i.e., with an additional fuel cell for additional range. Our FUSO eCanter is already available in 70 variants, and in the next few months, our Mercedes-Benz eActros 300 for distribution haulage will also go into series production as a semi-trailer tractor unit. We are thus launching many new variants of our zero emission series production vehicles, and we will also be launching many completely new models in the near future, especially for the long haul. Here, right next to me, for example, you can see a prototype of our eActros 600, which manages a range of about 500 km without intermediate charging. Next year, our eActros 600 will be ready for series production, and there's already a lot of interest from our customers to be seen.
Our battery-powered vehicles will be followed by our hydrogen-powered vehicles over the further course of our journey. In the second half of this decade, we'll launch hydrogen trucks, followed by hydrogen buses at the end of the decade. With hydrogen, we're a few years behind the battery on the timeline. This is exactly the right roadmap, because the refueling infrastructure for hydrogen will not realistically be in place for several years, that is when we put our vehicles on the road. There's one thing I'd like to emphasize about our hydrogen strategy. So far, we've focused primarily on fuel cells. Of course, we're also keeping a very close eye on the discussion about a hydrogen combustion engine. We are also in a very good position with regard to this technology. First, we can use and rely on the enormous experience we have with classical IC engine.
Secondly, in recent years, we've built up the necessary expertise and know-how for a potential use of hydrogen. That is, we are very well prepared. Once, and if the hydrogen combustion engine is supported politically for good reasons, because it's a very good CO2-free alternative, we can act very quickly and offer our customers suitable vehicles. To introduce you to our zero-emission series production vehicles, I've brought along a short video clip. Ladies and gentlemen, I think that one thing has become clear: Daimler Truck has all the technologies on board that matter in this historic transformation. This puts us in a position to respond very flexibly to different scenarios, and this is so crucial to success, because the exact course of the transformation is unpredictable. It depends on factors that we, as Daimler Truck, cannot control.
For example, how quickly battery and hydrogen will replace the diesel engine also depends on how resolutely regulators will support the operation of zero-emission vehicles and make the use of diesel more expensive. A good example of this is the CO2-based toll that Germany plans to introduce as of the 1st of December of this year, which we, of Daimler Truck, clearly support. It's also difficult to predict how the exact mix of battery and hydrogen will develop. The challenging development of a pan-European charging infrastructure plays a very important role in this context, as to future energy prices. Depending on how the prices for electricity and hydrogen turn out in the future, our customers will increasingly opt for battery trucks or even fuel cell trucks. Against this background, one thing really surprises me.
Every now and then, I'm still asked whether it's not risky to rely on hydrogen in addition to batteries, but the actual risk is elsewhere. It would be really risky not to develop hydrogen drives now. If the market for hydrogen vehicles were to boom, this opportunity would be completely missed. Our flexible technology strategy is just as important for our customers as for ourselves, because it means that our customers around the globe can continue to rely 100% on Daimler Truck in the future. Whether light or heavy loads, whether routes can be planned well or hardly at all, we will offer our customers a sustainable, emission-free solution for all transportation tasks.
It is conceivable that the following technological segmentation will emerge over time: urban bus and truck transportation with batteries, long-haul transportation with batteries or hydrogen-based fuel cells, depending on what is most economical for our customers in each individual case and where the infrastructure is built up most quickly. Trucks with bodies, such as concrete mixers, which require significantly more energy for such bodies than for driving, could use the hydrogen combustion engine. Making our customers successful, this is what we strive for at Daimler Truck in everything we do. We know, especially during the phase of transformation, it's becoming more and more important for our customers that they do not only get the right vehicles from us, but also the right overall solutions. We are therefore constantly expanding our range of services. The best example is our Fuso eCanter.
We do not only offer attractive services for maintenance, insurance, and leasing regarding the eCanter, we also finance the installation of the necessary charging infrastructure. We provide comprehensive advice on the best charging strategies in the depots and along the route. We are preparing numerous other services, such as energy procurement and the reuse or recycling of batteries. Ladies and gentlemen, as you can see, Daimler Truck has a clear picture of the destination of our journey, the sustainable transportation of the future. We therefore know only too well what portfolio of products, technologies, and services it'll take to continue to be successful for and with our customers in the future. Now, I'd like to tell you how we are going to organize ourselves in the transformation to efficiently build this portfolio of the future.
We've made targeted investments into our assembly plants so that we can manufacture conventional and zero-emission vehicles on the same production lines. This is because, as I already mentioned, it is impossible to predict exactly how the unit numbers of the various products and technologies will develop over the next few years. Flexibility is of the essence here, and this is something we now have in our plants, too. For our German powertrain plants, we've also agreed on clear target pictures together with the works council. We're also making our plants fit for the future by making them sustainable. We have a clearly defined timetable for this. At our European production sites, we've already achieved CO2 neutrality last year, in part by sourcing electricity from solar, wind, and hydropower plants. We're also aiming to make our plants in the U.S., Japan, and India CO2 neutral by 2025.
Ladies and gentlemen, when it comes to the question of how we organize ourselves during the transformation, another aspect is also very important. Regarding the core technologies of the future, we ensure that we have the necessary know-how in-house. We do not want to, and we will not, do everything ourselves, and certainly not alone, because then the capital investment would be too high and economies of scale would be too low. In other words, to keep the picture, during the transformation, we're specifically looking for traveling companions. With the right partners, we can travel much more economically and make faster progress using fewer resources. Here, we're also prepared to make far-reaching strategic decisions. This is demonstrated by the memorandum of understanding that we signed three weeks ago and communicated by ad hoc announcement. We intend to merge our Japanese subsidiary, Mitsubishi Fuso, with Hino Motors.
Hino is a subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corporation. The number 3 and number 2 in the Japanese commercial vehicle markets are to join forces in order to achieve significantly higher economies of scale in both new and conventional drive technologies. FUSO will therefore continue to use all relevant Daimler Truck technology platforms, especially for heavy commercial vehicles. At the same time, together with Hino, FUSO can achieve the necessary scale in light commercial vehicles that we cannot achieve on our own. In addition, Daimler Truck and Toyota have agreed to cooperate extensively in the transformation of our industry, especially with regard to hydrogen-based powertrains. The review processes envisaged for such transactions are currently underway. We aim for the merger to be completed towards the end of 2024. There are many other topics where we are working with partners.
For example, on the important question of how we will obtain supplies of suitable batteries in the future. In order to ensure the right quality and quantity of batteries in this respect, we, as Daimler Truck, will establish production facilities, but not under our own steam. We will do so together with partners. We are also working with other companies to set up a charging infrastructure for zero-emission vehicles. Setting up such an infrastructure is not one of Daimler Truck's core business areas, neither is it intended to become one. In the initial phase, we want to help initiate the development together with industrial and financial partners. We are therefore participating in the Milence and Greenlane joint ventures, which aim to establish pilot charging networks for zero-emission trucks in Europe and the U.S.
Ladies and gentlemen, you can see, Daimler Truck, your company, is driving sustainable transportation forward regarding all crucial topics with great determination and a clearly defined strategy. It is also clear that green transportation requires first and foremost, green energy. Green energy must be available in sufficient quantities, at affordable prices, and above all, on time. If we are too slow in this regard, we will have to charge electric truck batteries with coal-fired electricity, or produce hydrogen with fossil fuels. Surely, this is something nobody will want, because then we wouldn't have gained anything as a corporation. In that case, we could just stick with diesel trucks, which would actually be better for the climate. We must therefore now rapidly expand green energies along the entire value chain, from generation to distribution.
As Daimler Truck, we're engaged in an intensive exchange of ideas with politicians and regulators on the question of how to accelerate the development of the infrastructure. We provide constructive advice. What we urgently need here in Europe, along the lines of the Inflation Reduction Act in the U.S., is a Bureaucracy Reduction Act. In infrastructure projects, we need to significantly simplify , accelerate, and streamline all processes and procedures at all levels. At Daimler Truck, we are constantly working on our processes in order to keep a high cruising speed, and this is what is required from authorities and regulators, too. Dear shareholders, dear friends of Daimler Truck, I think we can all be very proud of our company. We have a clear picture of the future of transportation, and we are playing a crucial role in shaping this future.
We are successfully working on our profitability, as our business figures show. We are making great progress in our transformation. We have a clear compass for the journey ahead, and we have a tremendous drive to succeed. I'm therefore very confident when it comes to talking about the future of Daimler Truck. This is true for 2023, and it's even more true for 2030. Our entire team is firmly determined to seize the enormous opportunities that this historic transformation of our industry will bring. To put it in the words of the drivers who go on great journeys with our trucks day after day, "We will deliver." Thank you.
Thank you, Martin, for this great speech. Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, this takes us to the end of the publicly broadcast part of this virtual AGM. From now on, the live stream will only be available for shareholders listed on the share register, their representatives, invited guests, and of course, accredited media representatives. I'd like to say farewell to all our other listeners and visitors, and I'd like to thank you for joining us.