Bosch expects sales of light vehicles in the US to reach 11m units next year in 2010, about 1m more than this year but still well short of the 13.2m units sold in 2008 and the 16.1m in 2007.
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Peter Marks, head of Bosch in North America, told the Reuters Autos Summit in Detroit that 2007 was the last truly good year of US sales for Bosch, when they were at levels that will not be seen again until 2012. Although sales for the parts supplier will increase next year “it will take us until 2012, Bosch as a whole, to get the sales again that we had in 2007. That is quite a long road.
“The recession has impacted Bosch significantly,” Marks said. “For 2009, we expect worldwide sales to fall by 15% to US$51bn. For the automotive (at Bosch), the decline is even worse – by 20% worldwide and by 21% in North America.”
For the rest of 2009, he said, “The fourth quarter will be better than the fourth quarter of the previous year but it will be still 20% below what we experienced in a good year, which is our reference, 2007.”
Bosch will spend about US$4.2bn worldwide on research and development, which Marks said will keep it competitive in the emerging alternative vehicle market.
“For the auto industry, all roads ultimately lead to the full electrification of the vehicle,” Marks said, adding that it will take two decades for alternative vehicles to overtake the internal combustion engine.
Bosch expects to increase US sales at an annual rate of 7% to 8% “which is a pretty good growth in a mature market,” Marks said.
