Bosch to up investment, tap green opportunities in China

Bosch, a German engineering and technology giant, is committed to the Chinese market and will increase investment in the country, including in emerging sectors related to clean energy and green mobility, a top company executive said.

Bosch will tap into the huge opportunity created by China's goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, he said.

Bosch operates 34 manufacturing sites and 26 technical centers in China, with more than 58,000 employees, including some 10,000 working on research and development.

"China and the Chinese market will stay very important. We have no intent to lower our engagement. It is absolutely the opposite," Markus Heyn, member of the Bosch board of management and chairman of Bosch Mobility, told China Daily at the IAA Mobility 2023 being held in Munich from Tuesday to Sunday.

"We are there (in China) for the long term. We are rather confident that China will stay one of the most important markets in the future, driven by a lot of technological innovations."

Heyn said Bosch's China business has grown tremendously. The company has been investing 700 million euros ($750 million) a year on average in China and the investment will only increase in the years to come.

Bosch announced earlier this year it will invest some $1 billion to establish a site in Suzhou, about 100 kilometers from Shanghai, for new energy vehicles and automated driving-related businesses. A groundbreaking ceremony for the site was held in March.

Stefan Hartung, Bosch Group chairman, described the investment as "an important milestone which represents Bosch's commitment to shaping the future of mobility in China".

Bosch had invested 50 billion yuan ($7 billion) in China in the past decade, according to company figures released at the end of 2022.

Heyn said China's carbon-neutral goal presents a huge opportunity for Bosch as numerous technologies, like electric mobility with e-motors and power electronics, have to be developed.

He said Bosch is also paving the way for fuel cells, which will be launched first in commercial vehicle applications both in China and other countries.

Bosch has received customer orders for a hydrogen internal combustion engine. Heyn said all sorts of powertrain systems for becoming carbon-neutral will be developed, depending on the requirements in the respective countries and regions like China, India, Europe and the United States. "We are trying to prepare for all these technologies in order to provide them to various markets."

Heyn said it is a "good thing" to see a record number of Chinese exhibitors at the IAA Mobility 2023. Increasing competition from Chinese companies is a positive for German carmakers. Bosch has good relations with many Chinese original equipment manufacturers or OEMs.

"Competition typically leads to more competitive offerings for the end customers … For us, this is something we believe is a good market mechanism and we are ready for it," he said.

Heyn said since Bosch has been in China since 1909, it knows the market, the players and their capabilities quite well. "Competition from Chinese companies — it's a development which we believe is healthy. And for us, it is a good development that companies in China have increased their technological competence, their capabilities — and we have grown with them. We have also increased our capabilities and competence in China."

He cited Bosch's 35,000 workforce in China in mobility alone, something unimaginable 20 years ago. He said he is very proud of Bosch's R&D team in China, saying they are "very capable people".

Bosch China's R&D expenses totaled 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) in 2022 alone. "I would say I'm proud of the competences and qualifications we have in China where we develop locally."