Bosch expects significant growth in demand for diesel vehicles in the US and China, according to the company’s press release. Diesel vehicles currently account for just 1% of new passenger car registration in the US. Bosch forecast this share to rise to around 10% of the light vehicle sales by 2018, driven by rapidly expanding range of diesel models.
The German supplier also predicts diesel penetration to grow in China. Last month, the country introduced China IV emission norms, equivalent to Euro 4. The new regulation is expected to drive demand for vehicles equipped with advanced diesel technologies such as the commonrail systems.
Apart from these two markets, Bosch expects demand for its diesel technology to increase in India. The country is the second biggest market for diesel vehicles after Europe and accounts for 15% of the global market for diesel passenger cars. India has experienced significant growth in demand for diesel vehicles in the past three years driven by the wide gap between prices of petrol and diesel. Currently more than half of the new passenger cars registered in India are diesel vehicles. Although the Indian government is working to bridge the gap in prices of these two fuels through gradually increasing price of diesel, the demand for diesel vehicles is expected to remain strong in the country.
Significance: Bosch expects demand for diesel vehicles to grow in key international markets as the diesel technology becomes more acceptable outside Europe, the biggest market for diesel vehicles. In Europe, the share of diesel vehicles is high and therefore there is little scope for further incremental growth. Although European automakers have been selling diesel models in the US for many years, this year local automakers such as GM and Chrysler introduced some diesel models to tap growing demand. For example, Chevrolet launched a diesel version of Cruze sedan in the US this year. Bosch is supplying diesel fuel injection system to the model. The company is also supplying commonrail fuel injection system to Chrysler’s new 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee SUV. The German supplier is already supplying diesel technology for Audi A8, A7, A6 and Q5 models sold in the US. In China, Bosch started construction of a new production plant in Qingdao in Shandong Province to boost production of commonrail injectors for light-duty and heavy duty commercial vehicles. The company already operates one commonrail injector plant in Wuxi in Jiangsu Province.
