Bosch and ZF remain convinced of China’s growth market
16. May 2019China continues to be the most important and fastest growing market for Bosch’s automotive division, said Stefan Hartung, managing director of the corresponding department of the German conglomerate. “The potential and opportunities for Bosch are enormous in the long and medium term,” said Hartung at a press conference on April 8. Despite weaker demand in China this year, Bosch believes that the market is far from saturated. Statistically speaking, there are 690 cars per 1,000 inhabitants in Germany, compared with only 170 in China. According to Hartung, China will also focus more strongly on mobility services and develop into a leading market for modern mobility.
Even though domestic car sales to private customers in March fell by 12 percent compared with the previous year, Bosch was able to increase its sales in China in 2018 by one percent to 10.5 billion euros. According to Hartung, the Chinese market is only taking a breather. The reasons for this are the customs dispute between the U.S. and China and the slower growth of the economy. Last but not least, many customers would wait for a reduction in the value-added tax announced for April 1 and then make further major investments such as buying a car.
The automotive supplier ZF is also looking forward to a positive market development. The specialist for gears, transmissions, and driveline technology has been selling its products to China for 40 years. Since 1994, the company has also been producing there and since 2004 has been supported by its own local development department. In 2018, the company generated around 20 percent or 6 billion euros of its sales in China. Just recently, ZF was able to announce the largest order in the company’s history. The contract with BMW for the production of an eight-speed automatic transmission has a volume in the tens of billions. These transmissions are to be manufactured at a ZF production facility near Shanghai, where six-speed transmissions were previously manufactured. In addition, ZF is working at its development center in China on the production of an electric motor and the addition of an electric drive to the aforementioned automatic transmission. Do you also have partner companies or subsidiaries in China? We can advise you in the course of a CCC (China Compulsory Certification) and have these carried out for you.
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