The Australian automotive industry has seen many changes recently, and the past 12 months have seen highs and lows for many manufacturers. Despite these changes, automotive aftermarket manufacturer Bosch Australia, based in Clayton Melbourne, says it is here to stay, and has affirmed its commitment in the Australian market moving forward.
With the backing of its global parent brand, the Bosch Australia automotive aftermarket division supports vehicle manufacturers, the aftermarket, independent and combined passenger car and commercial vehicle repair shops across the country with diagnostic systems, spare parts, repair shop technology and know-how.
Bosch Australia’s automotive aftermarket regional director, Damion Newsome says: “To meet the demands of the automotive aftermarket, Bosch sources and produces spare parts for maintenance and repair, and also contributes to repair shop concepts, including Bosch Car Service and Bosch Diesel Service.”
On the independent repair shop market, Bosch Car Service, with currently more than 130 franchises across Australia and New Zealand, is part of one of the largest independent repair shop networks in the world and growing.
Just a few years ago, the Bosch business traditionally revolved around selling components in to the aftermarket that were developed by Bosch for the original fitting of a vehicle.
Through many strategic acquisitions, with some focused in the Asia-Pacific region, Bosch has been able to expand its product portfolio considerably.
Today, Bosch itself develops and manufactures many spare parts for the aftermarket, including spark plugs, glow plugs and oxygen sensors, windshield wipers and brake pads, and not forgetting to mention, the manufacture of repair shop equipment like brake testers, battery testers, wheel alignment and mounting devices.
Damion adds: “Support other than parts has become increasingly prevalent as today’s vehicles require electronic components to control, regulate and monitor almost every aspect of an automobile, and independent workshops are becoming more reliant on support and the diagnostic know-how along with current vehicle data for different makes.”
This is why it is an important but necessary decision for repair shops to invest in modern testing and diagnostic technology and most notably in the ongoing training of their employees.
Despite Bosch’s recent announcement to exit the filtration market in Oceania only, other key strategic areas of their diverse product portfolio continues to grow, for example rotating electrics, braking, gasoline and diesel are all showing encouraging growth.
The division offers a broad range of products for both petrol and diesel engines, extensively covering European, Asian and other makes of passenger and commercial vehicles on our roads.
With Bosch’s offer of technical training and support, workshop test equipment and software and its mix of spare parts, Bosch positions workshops for the future with its innovative products, technical knowledge expertise, workshop equipment and training programmes.
