Bosch aims for 15% growth
Automotive aftermarket sector booms in Middle East
Parts sectors expected to see growth this year will be braking components, rotating machines, batteries and wipers.
The Automotive Aftermarket division of Robert Bosch Middle East has announced a 15% growth target across the region for 2014, as the market for aftermarket parts experiences strong growth.
Bosche has highlighted the Middle East and North East African region as the fastest growing market in the world for automotive products and services, and is rapidly expanding its scope of operations to meet the demand. The company is one of the largest suppliers of diagnostics equipment, car control units, diesel systems, spark plugs, batteries, rotating machines and wipers in the region.
Andreas Bodemer, VP for Bosch Automotive Aftermarket, Middle East and Africa, said the company would introduce a ‘four pillars’ strategy, including retail, sales programme, and service centre expansion, along with an invigorated promotional campaign.
The plan will include increasing the number of Bosch service centres across the region to 400 by 2015. It currently has 220 Bosch Car Service workshops, 15 Express Car Service Centres, 50 Diesel Service workshops, and six Bosch Diesel Centres, a total of 291.
Parts sectors expected to see growth this year will be braking components, rotating machines, batteries and wipers.
“For the last two years Bosch Automotive Aftermarket has enjoyed double digit growth across the Middle East and Africa region, but rather than rest on our laurels, we want to keep on growing and increase our market share,” said Bodemer.
“There are four blocks of success which will take us to our 15% target growth by the end of the year. Firstly we need to increase our visibility by doubling the number of retailers that supply our products. We would also like to increase the number of Bosch service centres by 2015 to 400. The service centres are large consumers of our automotive parts and this strong forward integration can account for more than 20% of the aftermarket parts sales,” he added.
“We need to expand our sales programme so that we are selling more units to a larger number of customers through our existing channels, thus spreading the Bosch brand deeper and wider in the market. Finally, in order to be on ‘top of mind’ for retailers, 2014 will be the year of new and exciting promotional campaigns, spearheaded by a series of at least 30 ‘Sales Blitz’ events targeted at retailers across the region.”
