Bosch Expects Slight Increase in Car Parts Sales This Year

Robert Bosch predicts that revenue coming from car-parts sales will slightly increase in 2013 as the company will grab a larger share of components built in each vehicle.

“We’re growing above all through higher turnover per car, less through higher production levels,” said Bernd Bohr, responsible for Bosch’s core car parts division.

Bohr added that he expects his auto division’s global revenue to increase 3% to 5%, but that the mount of vehicles manufactured in Europe will not increase anytime soon, as automakers already deal with an overcapacity of about 3 million vehicles.

“I don’t see that kind of overhang among suppliers following the adjustments they made during the auto industry crisis years of 2008 and 2009,” he said.

Still, Bohr did not totally reject the idea of layoffs in Germany and said that the company will try to refrain from ‘compulsory job cuts.’ It is easier for partmakers to adjust production to meet demand, as suppliers usually run smaller factories located near each of their customers. Until now, Bosch managed to make itself an impeccable reputation in Germany based on how it treats its workforce. The reason might be that the plants in Germany account for a high percentage of the company’s revenue.