Automotive News Europe - February 2013 - 15

AUTOMOTIVE NEWS EUROPE

QA

SUPPLIERS

Bosch expects sales
rebound in 2013

Head of supplier’s automotive unit says
Europe will remain weak; U.S., China to grow

R

obert Bosch’s auto division boosted
global sales by 1.7 percent to a
record 30.9 billion euros last year, but
missed its 2012 sales target by 600
million euros. Auto division boss Bernd
Bohr said last year’s forecast was too
optimistic. For 2013, he expects sales
to increase by 3 percent to 5 percent,
but to reach that goal cuts will need
to be made. Bohr recently met with
reporter Matthias Krust of Automotive
News Europe’s German sister publication, Automobilwoche, at Bosch’s
headquarters in Stuttgart.
How did the vehicle technology
division do in 2012?
The growth in revenue has come in just
under our expectations. While the first
six months matched our forecasts, we
were hit hard by the weakness of south
European manufacturers. These manufacturers have a high percentage of
diesels, and Bosch is a major supplier.
The rise in gasoline direct injection was
not able to offset this. The upshot is
that 2012 was not a good year for the
division as far as revenue goes.
What do you expect this year?
We are cautiously optimistic and expect
revenue growth of 3 to 5 percent, with
demand only likely to really grow during the second half of the year. We are
assuming stable revenue in Europe. For
the most part, we will clearly grow in
gasoline direct injection in the twofigure percent range. The U.S. will grow.
In China and India, we foresee market
growth in the high single-figures.

head count trend in Europe, reduce the
investment in equipment and facilities,
and examine all the other budgets,
starting with travel costs. But we won’t
cut r&d since we can only continue to
differentiate ourselves from the competition through innovation.
Analysts estimate Europe has an
overcapacity of up to 30 percent.
Will Bosch have to close factories
because of this problem?
No, there are no plans for that. I also
believe that you won’t find the 30
percent figure that you cited at any
supplier. As a supplier, you manufacture
products in a factory for various customers, and you can align yourself with
the average demand. In addition, there
are opportunities for flexibility with shift
models and, especially in Germany, very
good opportunities to make adjustments due to collective bargaining
agreements and temporary staff.
Are you ruling out layoffs?
We are pursuing a long-term policy
related to our facilities and so far have
not attracted attention by wielding a
crowbar. We naturally must keep a
close watch on the competitiveness of
our facilities on an ongoing basis. If we
start to make adjustments proactively
and they run over a long period, it is
possible to shape them in a socially
responsible way.

Nevertheless, reducing fixed costs is
a top priority, right?
We assessed the market trend a bit too
optimistically during the first half of
2012. We should have stepped on the
brakes somewhat earlier.

A number of electric vehicles will
launch in Europe this year. Are we on
the verge of a breakthrough that will
lead to high-volume business?
I don’t see a mass market. Today, lithium
ion batteries cost about 8,000 to 10,000
euros. That still makes electric vehicles
too expensive. Moreover, for a substantial sum of money, you still only get a car
with a short range and other limitations.

What will you do differently this year?
We are going to reduce the investment
budget. We will take a close look at the

How will the market develop?
We currently put the global market for
electric vehicles at about 2 to 3 percent

FEBRUARY 2013

Meet the boss
❚ NAME: Bernd Bohr
❚ TITLE: Chairman, Bosch auto group
❚ AGE: 56
❚ BASED: Stuttgart
❚ NATIONALITY: German
❚ MAIN CHALLENGE: Reducing costs
in Europe to offset the region’s decline in
car output.

of total car volume. That will change
slowly in the coming years. Only the
well-to-do and absolute enthusiasts will
get an EV. We foresee a high-volume
market starting in 2020. Then we
expect 12 million electrified vehicles.
About 3 million of them will likely be
purely electric cars and another 3 million plug-in hybrids. In addition, there
will be about 6 million hybrid vehicles.
Overall, that means a global market
share of 10 to 12 percent.
Can Bosch play a significant role
here considering it ended its battery
partnership with Samsung SDI?
We are currently very happy that we
have no large volume production of
lithium ion cells. In the cell market for
automotive applications, capacity is
currently more than double the demand, which is leading to extreme price
pressures. But one thing is also clear:
in the mid-term, we again want to cover
the entire value chain for batteries and
achieve decent market share.

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