Agence France-Presse

Agence France-Presse
Singapore

German industrial giant Robert Bosch GmbH is accelerating into
the Asia-Pacific automotive parts market amid rapidly growing
demand for cars in China, India and other key countries.

Its automotive after-market division is aiming to increase its
business turnover in the region by 30-40 percent in four years.
The division now has an annual revenue of US$500 million from the
Asia-Pacific area.

Bosch also wants to increase its slice of the Asia-Pacific pie
from seven percent in 2002 to at least 10 percent in seven years'
time.

Global demand for automotive after-market products is
projected to exceed $130 billion by 2007, according to Bosch
senior officials.

The after-market industry encompasses everything that happens
after the sale of a vehicle, with Bosch specializing in products
such as spark plugs and windscreen wipers.

"We are now making an extra push to intensify our efforts,"
Bosch's vice president for regional automotive after-market
sales, Odd Joergenrud, told AFP in an interview.

"It's not like we are starting now but what we are actually
doing now is to concentrate our efforts stronger in the region
and put more focus in our strategy and the way we want to
proceed."

To spearhead its push into Asia, Bosch announced last week it
will set up a regional automotive operation in Singapore.

The growth strategy also involves expanding its network of car
service centers in the region from 2,000 last year to 3,000 in
2006.

"Asia is, in the automotive after-market, a growing market,
and a relatively fast-growing market," said Eugen Konrad,
president of Bosch's automotive after-market division.

Regional demand is projected to grow between three and four
percent in the coming years, above the world's average of 1.7-1.8
percent, Konrad said.

"It sounds very very low but normally the after-market is not
growing very fast," Konrad said.

"If you go to Europe, it's one percent... if you go to
America, its flat. So Asia is growing between three and four
percent and if you go into some countries like China, it's even
faster growing, so it's worthwhile to come over," he said.

Exciting markets on Bosch's Asian radar screen include
Thailand, Indonesia and South Korea with China and India seen as
particularly attractive because of their big populations, Bosch
said.

Bosch wants its Asian business to grow twice as fast as the
pace predicted for the region.

"We want to grow double as fast as the market so our growth
target will be in the range of 7-8 percent... that is what we are
aiming at," Joergenrud said.

Headquartered near Stuttgart, Bosch is one of Germany's
largest industrial firms and the world's second largest supplier
of automotive technology with the division generating sales of
23.3 billion euros (US$26.63 billion in 2002, almost 70 percent
of the company's total turnover of 35 billion euros.

It is well established in Europe but there is still some
catching up in Asia where Japan's Denso Corp. is undoubtedly the
market leader, Bosch conceded.