Bosch India Invests $440 Million in Expansion of Affordable Auto Technology Production and Development

---

Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The Indian subsidiary of automotive components manufacturer Bosch Group (Stuttgart, Germany) has announced that it will make an additional $440 million to increase capacity, diversification and development of new technology during the next two years.

Riding the Indian auto boom, the company is benefitting from a wave in development of new, low-cost technologies, which are going toward models such as the Tata Nano and the Aria. The company will apportion a significant amount of the new investment into expansion of its local product development drive. In Chennai, Bosch is building an electrical-drives plant that is scheduled to go into production this year.

At the Nashik plant, increased demand is driving up production volumes of the Classical Nozzle Holder to 26,500 units a day, from the former base of 17,000 units a day. DSLA nozzle production has risen from 18,000 units a day to 30,500 units, and the production area has been expanded by 33,000 square meters.

Production is also increasing at Jaipur, and Bosch is constructing a new plant at Ahmedabad to produce hydraulic valves, power units, control blocks and cylinders.

Bosch India's developers will lead the group's work in software support for electronic control units, said Dr. Bernd Bohr, the chairman of the automotive group and management board member at Robert Bosch GmbH (Gerlingen, Germany). Software development would focus on engine control units (ECUs) for vehicles with conventional drive train technologies, as well as hybrid and electric vehicles. To execute these objectives, more than 800 engineers have been recruited in Bangalore and Coimbatore.

The company has been working for the past year on fuel economy technologies that are relevant for the company and other emerging markets. These include the Value Motronic engine management platform, which was developed for emerging markets in cooperation with Indian engineers.

Bosch expects the number of cars per 1,000 inhabitants in India to nearly triple from the current 12 to 35 by 2025. With an eye on the Indian market's sensitivity to incremental costs, the company is working on lowering the cost of its safety technologies. Anti-lock braking systems currently feature in about 13% of vehicles sold in India. By supporting original equipment manufacturers, Bosch India produces 300,000 anti-lock braking-system units per year at its Pune plant. The units are used in cars, SUVs and UVs. The company also offers affordable anti-lock braking systems for two-wheelers.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, and eight offices outside of North America, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.