Bosch completes 100 years of Bosch Car Service

German industrial giant Bosch has just completed 100 years of its Car Service network. The first Bosch installation and repair workshop opened its doors in 1921. Bosch Car Service is now the world's largest multi-brand car service network with over 15,000 workshops across 150 countries. In India, Bosch Car Service has 250 workshops that offer car owners an extensive range of repair services and solutions.

Robert Bosch founded the company in 1886 and started to make and sell automotive parts like magneto ignitions, spark plugs and headlights. The company made a name for itself by producing reliable products and became a leading automotive supplier by the turn of the 20th century. In 1901, Bosch built its first factory in the city of Stuttgart.

Bosch Car Services started with the company's founder, Robert Bosch installing a car repair workshop in the city of Hamburg in 1921, because he had realised early on the necessity of it. Up until then, Bosch was just a parts maker and provided installation services to customers, but not on a large scale. Robert saw the global demand for a car repair workshop chain as the number of car owners was increasing significantly and so did the demand for specialized expertise to work on them. By 1920, the number of automobiles worldwide had grown to over 2.5 million units which was 10 times more than just a decade ago. Cars became modern and incorporated more technology which made them more complex and hence customers demanded experts to work on them, unlike early days when they took care of repairs themselves.

Bosch's first partnership agreement was signed with Max Eisenmann & Co. in Hamburg on January 1, 1921. They went on to the partnership route because it allowed them to expand very quickly. They envisioned their partners to be "bases" or "independent businesses, not directly affiliated with the company but capable of handling the sale and installation of Bosch products, keeping easily replaceable spare parts on stock, performing light repair work, and dispensing technical advice on their own account, usually only in dealings with private individuals, and not with motor vehicle factories.” This concept was a huge success and continues to work even in the modern day. Today Bosch Car Services employs over 90,000 people and workshops receive support in the form of cutting-edge diagnostic technology, effective spare part logistics, and marketing measures.

Bosch Car Service presently has 250 shops across India including the company-owned and operated Bosch Car Service in Bengaluru that was established in 2017. This India headquarters serves as a centre of research and development which tests products to Indian standards before launching. Anjan Kumar — Regional President, Bosch Automotive Aftermarket, says, "Bosch Car Service (BCS) in India has been growing at a very strong pace clocking a high double digit growth in 2020 over the previous year, this is the highest growth posted in the BCS network expansion across geographies, in the milestone marking 100 years of presence, despite prevailing Covid challenges. Our value proposition towards passenger car workshops have been strengthened over the last many months. This has been a major attraction for many OEM workshops across the country to convert to a Bosch Car Service workshop especially the recent outlets in Mumbai, Chandigarh, Chennai and Ahmedabad. We offer comprehensive services namely vehicle diagnosis, wide range of spare parts, technical service and support to car owners that are at par with leading OEMs across the country. Importantly, while achieving the 100 years milestone, we have also created a futuristic digital ecosystem for multi-brand workshops – an ecosystem beyond compare."

With modern cars incorporating new technologies like automated driver assistance and digital displays, Thomas Winter — Head of Workshop Concepts at Bosch Automotive Aftermarket, says, “This also means new challenges for workshops. Bosch is a reliable partner when it comes to accommodating the increasing requirements of the future – and can guarantee that, with Bosch Car Service workshops, car owners will always have a competent contact for services and repair.”