Bosch plans to increase its business with Japanese carmakers, taking advantage of their plans to increase the number of common parts across models.
Toyota, Nissan and Honda are all planning to increase parts commonality so they can buy a larger number of fewer components thus cutting the unit price. It also makes it easier for automakers to build a variety of vehicle size and shapes.
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Bosch chief executive Volkmar Denner told reporters in Tokyo: “For a company like Bosch, this is an advantage because it will increase the volume, which will also help us to reduce costs.
“We are established with R&D, with application, with manufacturing, in all markets of the world where vehicles are produced.”
Last year Toyota announced its shared-parts strategy – called Toyota New Global Architecture. The first car to be fully developed under the programme is expected to be the revamped Prius scheduled for late 2014.
Nissan has also been pursuing a shared platform architecture called Common Module Family, with the first series of cars under the plan set to roll out this year.
Bosch saw its business with Japanese carmakers grow by about 8% last year, Denner said. It competes with Japan’s Denso for the title of the world’s biggest auto parts supplier.
