| 02-02-2008 Germany's
Bosch Group said its automotive parts business performed better than expected
last year, despite cost pressures and a weakening U.S. market.
Preliminary
2007 results released today show total sales at Robert Bosch GmbH increasing 4.5
percent to $42.3 billion (28.5 billion euros). Adjusting for currency effects,
the increase was nearly 7 percent, Bosch said.
"In the second half
of the year in particular, demand for clean, safe, and economical technologies
increased significantly. This was driven by forces that also promise positive
developments for the years to come," Bosch Group Chairman Franz Fehrenbach
said in a press release.
The final results will be released at the company's
annual press conference in May.
Looking ahead to 2008, Fehrenbach said
the uncertainty of the U.S. economy makes it impossible to make any detailed growth
forecasts, but he would be satisfied with the same level of growth as in 2007.
"Basically, the risks in North America are offset by the opportunities
in the other regions of the world," Fehrenbach said.
Bosch expects
products and technology for environmental and climate protection to be the main
driver of growth. A few of the company's predictions:
Global sales of
high-pressure diesel injection systems will reach 12.5 million this year, compared
with 10.5 million in 2007.
After reaching 1 million units in 2007, sales
of gasoline injection systems will more than double by 2009.
Bosch will
sell 500,000 start-stop powertrain systems in 2008 and more than 1 million in
2009.
Robert Bosch GmbH, of Stuttgart, ranks No. 1 on the Automotive
News list of the top 100 global suppliers with worldwide original-quipment automotive
parts sales of $29.69 billion in fiscal 2006.
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