Bosch plans restructuring, taps Paul Thomas to lead

FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. — Bosch Group has named a new regional board to oversee its mobility business in North and South America, led by Paul Thomas as president of the Americas for Bosch Mobility.

Bosch, a manufacturer of automotive parts and supplies, is planning to realign its global mobility business, beginning in January 2024, as Bosch Mobility.

A major focus of the realignment is strengthening the regions to serve existing and new customer needs with customized technologies and solutions.

Beginning January 2024, Thomas, currently executive vice president of Mobility Solutions, Americas, will step into the new role of president, Americas, and lead the Bosch Mobility Americas regional board. He will oversee technology, strategy and sales for the Americas region.

Mike Mansuetti, president of Bosch in North America, will continue in his role of leading Bosch's growth across all four of the company's sectors in North America, a portfolio with $15.3 billion in 2022 sales.

The Bosch Mobility reorganization aims to generate sales revenue of more than $84 billion worldwide by 2029, a more than 50% increase from 2022.

The structure of Bosch Mobility recognizes the increased focus on and impact of software on the vehicle, the company said, noting the automotive software market is likely to reach a volume of significantly more than $200 billion by 2030.

Bosch already has been developing vehicle software in-house and more than half of its R&D associates globally for the mobility business are software engineers. The new structure builds on the company's long history in software while adapting for emerging market trends.

From a functional standpoint, the individual divisions of the business sector will be reorganized, effective Jan. 1, 2024, and all divisions will be given horizontal, cross-divisional responsibilities.

Bosch Mobility will be organized into seven divisions:

• Mobility Aftermarket will deal with the secondary parts market and the Bosch Car Service workshop franchise.
• Electrified Motion will be concerned with everything relating to electric motors, from the Bosch e-axle to seat adjusters.
• Vehicle Motion will deal with vehicle dynamics, from ABS and ESP to steering.
• Power Solutions will handle combustion-engine technology, mobile and stationary fuel cells, electrolyzers and hydrogen engines.
• Cross-Domain Computing Solutions will develop solutions for areas ranging from automated parking to driver assistance and automated driving.
• Mobility Electronics will drive forward the development of control units and manage in-house semiconductor activities at Bosch.
• E-Bike Systems will supply systems solutions — comprising drive units, rechargeable batteries, ABS and connected displays — for e-bikes.
• The Bosch subsidiary ETAS will be given horizontal responsibility for hardware-agnostic software for operating systems and engineering tools.

To complement the new business structure, regional boards will support the global divisions of Bosch Mobility by recognizing the unique factors in different regions, including customer needs, supply chains, regulations and talent sustainability, the company said.

The Bosch Mobility Americas board, which interfaces directly with the global sector board for Bosch Mobility, is tasked to lead growth in a key market for Bosch, building upon the $10 billion of mobility sales generated in the Americas region in 2022.

As president, Thomas will lead the four-person regional board for Bosch Mobility Americas, which will include:

• Mohammed Abraham will be responsible for Bosch Mobility Americas commercial affairs, including finance and controlling, and will also serve as regional president of the Vehicle Motion division for North America. He is regional president of the Chassis Systems Control division in North America and previously held several global leadership positions, including as a member of the global executive management team for the company's Chassis Systems Control division.
• Gaston Diaz Perez will be responsible for Bosch Mobility activities in Latin America. Perez, who also is president of Bosch in Latin America, previously held the position of regional president of Bosch in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay, as well as executive vice president of Bosch Latin America.
• Hanns Bernd Ketteler will lead operations for Bosch Mobility Americas, including responsibility for all mobility manufacturing sites in the Americas region. Most recently, he was a member of the global executive management team for the Automotive Steering division of Bosch.