Bosch Automotive A product history

2 | Supplement 2 | Journal of Bosch History
Foreword
Title illustration:
Bosch and automotive
technology are inseparably
linked. The title
illustration from 1955
shows Bosch testing
equipment at work,
checking the ignition
system of an Opel
Olympia Rekord.
The magneto ignition device for motorized carriages that was first delivered
to a customer in 1898 marks our first major milestone as an automotive
supplier. There were numerous other important milestones on our way to
becoming a global automotive supplier with a wide range of automotive
systems, components, and services. Examples include the diesel injection
pump, the Jetronic electronic gasoline-injection system, the ABS antilock
braking system, the ESP® electronic stability program, and common rail.
Today, our products help a lot to cut fuel consumption and emissions, and
to make driving safer and more comfortable. Bosch technology can be found
in virtually every vehicle on the road, whether helping to stabilize vehicle
dynamics in critical situations, automatically maintaining a safe distance
from the vehicle in front, finding the most economical way to reach a destination,
or improving visibility at night.
With his finely honed entrepreneurial instinct, Robert Bosch was quick to
latch on to good ideas. He then used his technical flair and commercial
expertise to turn them into high-quality products that represented excellent
value for money. The principles that he formulated and lived by still shape
our company, our values, and our actions today. They help us turn challenges
into opportunities. Examples in automotive engineering include recognizing
the potential for growth in Asia, realizing the potential of the electric car,
supporting the associated emergence of new concepts of mobility, as well
as participating in the trend toward smaller vehicles.
Although Bosch is now a technology and services company that is active in
many other areas, our automotive business sector has always been at the
heart of what we do. No other business sector can look back on such a long
or multifaceted history. The purpose of this brochure is to relate this history,
and I hope it makes for interesting reading.
Best regards
Bernd Bohr
Member of the Board of Management
and Chairman of the Bosch Automotive Group