Automotive News Europe - September 2011 - 70

Q A
&
BERND BOHR

AUTOMOTIVE NEWS EUROPE

SUPPLIERS

COMPETING ON MANY FRONTS
Bosch wants to defend its position as the world’s biggest automotive supplier

obert Bosch GmbH’s automotive division is on track to surpass the 30-billion-euro sales plateau for this first time this year. Doing so should help the German giant remain the world’s biggest supplier based on sales. Bernd Bohr, head of Bosch’s automotive division, discussed the company’s future goals with Automotive News Europe Editorin-Chief Harald Hamprecht.

How much do you invest on r&d each year?

We will spend more than 3.2 billion euros this year on research and development for the vehicle technology division. That will clearly put us over the industry average. But we are also competing on multiple fronts. Which ones? Our goal is not only to provide the mobility solutions for tomorrow and beyond but also to make driving in the here and now even cleaner and more comfortable.
Will you defend your No. 1 position in the global supplier rankings?

MEET THE BOSS

●

Vehicle technology is the largest of Bosch’s three divisions. In 2010, it contributed 28.1 billion euros, or about 59 percent of the company’s total revenue. Will this change?

In 2000, more than 70 percent of the company’s total revenue came for the automotive business. The goal is to reduce it to about 50 percent. This is not a matter of slowing down in vehicle technology. We want to expand our industrial technology, consumer goods and building technology divisions. The automotive area will continue to grow in absolute terms.
How strongly?

We feel absolutely comfortable in this position and naturally wish to defend it. But there are no guarantees. The exchange rates for the euro, dollar and the yen strongly affect the rankings that the media compile. The fact that we are superbly positioned in the growth markets gives us confidence.
How is your revenue distributed across regions?

Since becoming chief executive of Robert Bosch GmbH’s car parts division in 2003, Bernd Bohr has helped the German supplier maintain market leadership, despite tough competition from rivals Denso Corp. and Continental AG. The 55-year-old German joined the supplier in 1983 as part of the operations scheduling team at the company’s plant in Reutlingen, Germany. During his career at Bosch he has held top-level jobs overseeing production of antilock brakes, semiconductors and electronics. He was promoted to the company’s board of management in 1999. Bohr has a doctorate in engineering from University of Aachen, Germany.

Which of your seven business segments will grow the most — and which ones will struggle?

For 2011, we expect growth of at least 10 percent and thus would surpass the 30 billion-euro mark for vehicle technology for the first time. The drivers are mainly our products for environmental and accident protection. But there are negative signs, too.
Could you be more specific?

Europe continues to account for the largest share of our global automotive revenue. But the Asia-Pacific region is our largest growth market. Asia’s share of revenue in vehicle technology has increased more than fourfold, from 6 percent to 26 percent in 12 years.
Do you plan any acquisitions?

All seven business segments will grow, since we expect 7 percent growth in global automotive production this year alone. Moreover, we see clear long-term growth factors. What are they? We are making vehicle powertrains more efficient than ever with a wide variety of innovations. We will once again reduce fuel consumption in diesel and gasoline engines by at least 30 percent. We want to boost the sales figures for our diesel common-rail injection system by more than 10 percent a year through 2015. We want to triple sales of the gasoline direct-injection system by 2013. This year, we want to sell about 2.6 million units of our stop-start system.
Let’s look at electric mobility. Is the end near for the internal combustion engine?

We see that growth in China, the world’s largest automotive market, won’t be sky-high this year. Rising raw material prices and the growing volatility in the business are also challenges. I am not just talking about economic cycles. Their amplitude is simply greater than in the past. And the number of technological trends is greater than ever before.
What are long-term earnings goals?

Growth in the vehicle technology division is primarily driven from the inside out. But that doesn’t mean that we will pass up attractive opportunities.
How much do you have available to spend on acquisitions?

We honestly have not imposed any upper limits. Even fairly large projects would not be a problem. Will you add staff? The number of employees in our vehicle technology division is expected to rise from 167,000 to 177,000 over the course of the year. The growth is especially taking place in the Asia-Pacific region.

We are in an eight-year strategic planning period and are striving each year for pre-tax earnings of 7 percent to 8 percent. Doing that allows us to finance solid growth and innovations.

Despite the potential for improvements in the efficiency of diesel and gasoline engines, we are working hard on this question as part of our multidisciplinary technological efforts. The reason is that the future belongs to electric drive. A case can be made that there will be an evolution to electric mobility. ■

❙ For the complete Bernd Bohr interview go to europe.autonews.com/bohrexecedition ❙ 70

ANE EXECUTIVE EDITION

SEPTEMBER 2011

http://europe.autonews.com/bohrexecedition

Automotive News Europe - September 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Automotive News Europe - September 2011