2 Cost of sales

Cost of sales includes interest expenses of €1,868 million (previous year: €1,955 million) attributable to the financial services business. This item also includes impairment losses on intangible assets (primarily development costs), property, plant and equipment (primarily technical equipment and machinery), and lease assets (vehicle leases) in the amount of €1,391 million (previous year: €377 million). The impairment losses amounting to a total of €738 million recognized during the reporting period on intangible assets and items of property, plant and equipment result in particular from lower values in use of various products in the Passenger Cars segment, from market and exchange rate risks, and in particular from expected declines in volumes. The impairment losses on lease assets in the amount of €652 million (including €33 million reported in current lease assets), which are attributable predominantly to the Financial Services segment, are based on constantly updated internal and external information that is factored into the forecast residual values of the vehicles.

Government grants related to income amounted to €409 million in the fiscal year (previous year: €883 million) and were generally allocated to the functions.