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Credit: Visual China

BEIJING, August 8 (TiPost) - Chen Yudong, the current president of Bosch China, plans to retire on January 1, 2024 and Xu Daquan, the current executive vice president responsible for the company’s automotive business, will fill the vacancy left by Chen.

Chen, 61, has served at Bosch Group since 2007. Prior to holding Bosch China’s executive vice president position in May 2008,  he was senior vice president in the gasoline cars division. He has been the president of Bosch China since 2011.

Under Chen’s leadership, Bosch’s sales in China grew from 37.3 billion yuan in 2010 to 132.1 billion yuan in 2022, representing a compound annual growth rate of 11%. China has also become Bosch’s largest market, with 34 production bases, 26 technical centers, and over 58,000 employees. It is the country with the highest number of employees for a Bosch subsidiary outside Germany.

After his retirement, Chen will serve as an advisor for China affairs to Bosch Group’s board of directors to help with Bosch China’s business development.

Xu has worked at Bosch China for over ten years and has a career that intersected with Chen’s in many aspects. From 1992 to 1999, he worked as a senior engineer for engine management systems at General Motors’ Tokyo and New York technical centers. In 2000, he joined Delphi’s New York technical center. After returning to China in 2005, he held various positions at Delphi China, including engineering department manager, director of quality, general manager, and president of the Powertrain Division. Since September 2010, Xu has been executive vice president of Bosch China, responsible for its automotive business.

Bosch operates four major business segments globally, with Automotive and Intelligent Transportation Technology contributing the highest proportion of its sales revenue, which was 59.64% in 2022. The other three business segments are Consumer Goods, Energy and Building Technology, and Industrial Technology, covering areas such as home appliances, heating systems, and security communication systems.

Bosch Group is facing significant challenges in the Chinese market. Due to factors such as pandemic control and chip shortages, its sales revenue in China grew by only about 3% to 132.1 billion yuan in 2022 compared to the previous year. With the growing popularity of electric vehicles, Bosch China also encounters competition from new-generation Tier 1 suppliers in China, such as Huawei, Baidu, and ECARX. This requires the company to accelerate its vehicle electrification process and compete with these local companies in areas like autonomous driving and other incremental components.

During the Shanghai Auto Show in April 2023, Xu mentioned that new projects related to electrification, automation, and connectivity account for nearly 40% of Bosch’s entire automotive business in China.