“We want a positive result in 2010,” says Bosch chief

The Bosch Group has made a good start to the current fiscal year, and intends to make up for much of the loss of sales in 2009, according to its chairman, Franz Fehrenbach.

Addressing journalists in Stuttgart, he said there were clear signs of recovery in all regions, with an especially powerful boost coming from the markets in China and India.

In the first quarter of this year, Bosch Group sales were up roughly 25% year on year. But the first quarter of 2009 was also the lowest point of that crisis year, so current sales are still significantly below their 2007 level.

Sales in the current fiscal year are expected to grow by more than 10% to 42 billion euros, driven principally by automotive technology operations responding to increased demand for vehicles, especially outside Europe.

However, Fehrenbach warned that recovery should not be “taken for granted”.