BERLIN, July 4 (Xinhua) -- German automotive suppliers invest more in research and development (R&D) than any of their international competitors, revealed a study published on Wednesday by the accounting company PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

According to the study, Germany defended its title as the "innovation- and quality leader" in the industry with R&D spending amounting to 5.7 percent of gross revenue on average at domestic companies. By contrast, other European automotive suppliers only dedicated an average of 3.7 percent of gross revenue to R&D spending while an average rate of 3 percent was recorded in U.S. and Asia.

PwC argued that the emphasis placed on innovation had helped German companies overcome challenges experienced during an ongoing period of structural change in the wider automotive industry.

In 2017, the sector achieved gross revenue of 221 billion euros (257 billion U.S. dollars) and thus defended a global market share of 24 percent.

Nearly all German automotive suppliers have enhanced their expertise and competences with regards to software and electronics through corporate take-overs in recent years. PwC noted that they hereby managed to preserve high levels of profitability in spite of devoting more funding to R&D expenditure than international rivals.

Nevertheless, the accounting company warned that none of the efforts undertaken so far would suffice to maintain the current level of competitiveness unless German firms cooperated more closely with local carmakers on digital services.