Current economic conditions need more vigilance: Bosch chief

Despite the global slowdown in the automobile market, Bosch is expecting a 5 percent growth in automotive production, Franz Feherenbach, chairman of Bosch board has said. He was speaking at the 2011 Frankfurt international motor show. The current economic conditions require more vigilance, he added. “Growth is expected to slightly slow down in the second half of 2011,” he said.

Bosch’s automobile technology sales is expected to touch around 30 billion euros and an additional 15,000 people will be hired, of which 10,000 will be in the automotive technology division alone, Fehrenbach added.

Enunciating on the growth factor, he added that it is not absolute growth that is the problem, but the distribution of such growth across regions and sectors. While India and China’s vehicular density is still just a fraction of that of Western Europe or USA, as these markets catch up, it’ll be the low-cost small car that will dominate, he said. “As a result, the number of units produced will see a sharp rise, but growth in terms of value will be weaker,” he added.

As new and emerging markets evolve, he added, “the automotive industry must ultimately make sure that it must be ready for a technological departure – whether in the form of fully autonomous driving or in the form of electro-mobility.” In connection with this, he added, Bosch will be investing a global total of 3.3 billion euros for R&D alone.