Bosch intends to expand its activities in Japan further. To achieve this, the company will be investing € 100 million in the current year. For 2005, the Bosch Group expects sales in Japan in comparative terms to grow by seven per cent. This would mean that sales of the Bosch Group in Japan total € 2.3 billion, with the Automotive Technology business sector alone contributing more than two billion euros.
"For Bosch, Japan is a key market, not least on account of the outstanding significance of the Japanese automotive industry for the entire region," said Dr. Bernd Bohr, member of the Bosch Board of Management and Chairman of the Automotive Group, at a press conference held at the Tokyo Motor Show.
At the beginning of 2005, the Bosch Group employed roughly 9,200 associates in Japan, some 8,400 of them in automotive technology. As a result of the merger of the braking and automotive electronics businesses three years ago, and with the aftermarket business in July 2005, the company has now pooled its automotive technology competence in Japan in the new entity of Bosch Corporation.
Products tailored for the Asian market
At the Tokyo Motor Show, Bosch is presenting many innovations for international carmakers, as well as products tailored to the specific needs of the Asian market. In its business with transmission controls, for example, the company expects considerable growth. This year alone, it will grow by nearly 30 per cent. Demand for push belts for continuously variable transmission (CVT) is also growing significantly. "Bosch is meeting all efforts to fulfill this strongly increasing demand," Bohr said.
Bosch also intends to significantly increase its sales of the Electronic Stability Control, or ESC for short. The positive effect of ESC in Japan has been officially confirmed by the "National Agency for Automotive Safety and Victims' Aid". According to this agency, vehicles with ESC are involved in almost a third fewer head-on collisions and traffic accidents than vehicles without ESC. "In view of this, we welcome the fact that the share of vehicles equipped with this system is increasing: last year, 10 per cent of all produced cars in Japan were equipped with ESC, by 2007, this figure is expected to have risen to 25 per cent," Bohr said.
Innovations for the automotive industry
In addition, Bosch is continuing to drive forward the development of fuel-injection technology. The end of this year will see the launch of the second generation of gasoline direct injection systems – smaller, lighter, more cost-efficient, and highly flexible, to allow a wide variety of combustion processes. In the diesel area, Bosch is working on higher injection pressures for the common-rail system – thus enhancing consumption and emission values still further. The company is also actively involved in the development and system integration of the hybrid drive. Bosch has many years of experience with combustion engines and electric motors, as well as extensive know-how in brake and power management. "Again and again, it is this broad-based know-how that works to our advantage in our innovation-driven partnership with carmakers," Bohr said.
In Japan, nearly 1,000 Bosch associates are involved in research and development. Worldwide, some 18,000 associates work in research and development in the Automotive Technology business sector, and Bosch operates in 50 development and application centres.
