Bosch's Middle East growth outpaces global growth

The company's performance was highlighted at the annual regional convention for Bosch Automotive held recently for the first time in Dubai, 2003, featuring partners and dealers from 20 countries from the Middle East, Africa and the surrounding region.

"The strong growth in the region was driven by strategic moves adopted by Bosch to consolidate its presence in the automotive aftermarket, under the ongoing 'Let's Build the Future' global programme," said Volker Bischoff, General Manager for Sales Middle East & Africa, Bosch, while addressing the convention. "Helped by our network of dealers and partners, we managed to considerably increase the market share and launch new projects. Our long term targets are to achieve a growth of 4 per cent per annum on average and maintain a fair increase in profitability."

"Bosch launched a new initiative to establish state-of-the-art Bosch Car Service centres across the Middle East in collaboration with its agents. The first such center of its kind in the Arabian Peninsula was opened in Abu Dhabi in association with the Central Motor Company," said Bischoff. "More such centers are due to be opened in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar, as part of our plan to expand the Bosch service organization which comprises 9,000 workshops at present."

Outlining the future growth strategies, Bischoff said a new Bosch branch was due to be opened in Riyadh in June 2003. The new Bosch branch in Dammam will be enhanced with a car service center later this year, and New Bosch facilities are already under construction in Kuwait and Bahrain.

"Our open door events and participation in trade fairs helped us project our unique products and solutions to end users and the trade," said Bischoff. "The events in Tunisia and Lebanon were particularly successful and we plan to continue this approach to drive our future growth."

Thomas Bauer, Export Manager and Vice President of Bosch, Automotive Aftermarket Division, provided an overview of the global market for automotive aftermarket, the competition, targets and diagnostics.

"The global automotive aftermarket has been growing exponentially in recent years. In 2002, the market was valued at 128 billion Euros, almost two-thirds of the Personal Computer market," said Bauer. "As a leading solution provider to the automobile industry for over 100 years, Bosch is set to grab a larger share of the expanding market through our industry-leading products and innovative strategies driven by both consumer preferences and changing lifestyles."

"The implementation of the Parts and Diagnostics Strategy worldwide helped us raise our market share considerably. Our focus will be to improve our performance in all four key areas of the diagnostics market (Electrical / mechanical testing equipment, ECU diagnostic equipment and software, technical workshop support and technical training), to achieve an even higher growth in 2003 and beyond."

"The new strategies involve heavy investment and we are ready for market consolidation through a strategic plan that will see Bosch achieve a much higher growth, especially in the Middle Eastern, Asian and African countries. The market scenario is changing dramatically, and we foresee a stronger role for Bosch as the trend shows that smaller operators will be marginalized or eliminated, and bigger companies will buy up smaller companies to gain dominance in a highly competitive market. Our impressive growth in the region has given us confidence to boldly proceed with our plans to become the leading player in the automotive aftermarket."

The three-day regional Bosch convention featured partners from Lebanon, Syria, Oman, Kuwait, Egypt, Cyprus, Jordan, Qatar, Yemen, Pakistan, Malta, Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Bahrain, Iran, Saudi Arabia and UAE.