The early years

Just one year after his return, Robert Bosch opened his workshop for precision mechanics and electrical engineering
in Rotebühlstrasse in Stuttgart on November 15, 1886. In 1902, the Bosch magneto ignition device with spark plug
was launched. This was able to supply the increasingly fast combustion engines in cars with the ignition sparks that
they needed. Alongside Europe, the U.S. was the world‘s biggest market for motor vehicles. This prompted Robert
Bosch to start positioning himself as a supplier to the U.S. Although the good reputation of the Bosch ignition device
had already spread “across the pond,” business there was restricted to individual deliveries, since the Bosch ignition
device was primarily retrofitted to used vehicles.
In 1906, when Bosch had produced its 100,000th magneto ignition device, Bosch sales executive Gustav Klein traveled to the U.S. to follow up a successful advertising campaign. It was Hugo Borst, a nephew of Robert Bosch and a sales
executive of the company, who had had the idea for the ads. In September 1906, Gustav Klein founded Robert
Bosch New York Inc., which went on to expand its business by opening branches in Chicago and San Francisco,
changing its name to Bosch Magneto Company in 1908.

The first Bosch factory in America

Sales of magneto ignition devices on the American market rocketed as the automotive industry there grew rapidly.
In 1910, the punitive customs tariffs which had to be paid on every imported product prompted Bosch to open
its own U.S. production facility, a factory in Springfield, Massachusetts. In 1914, Bosch Magneto Company purchased
another factory in Plainfield, New Jersey. The acquisition of Rushmore Dynamo Works in Plainfield not
only served to expand production but also to allow Bosch to acquire Rushmore‘s patent on starters. Bosch had
already done some development work in this field, but was unable to make the product ready for series manufacture
because of the complex patent situation.

The 1920‘s

Before the First World War, Bosch was generating up to 88 % of its sales outside of Germany. When war broke out in 1914, and in particular when the U.S. entered the war on the Allied side in 1917, the internationally aligned company suffered a severe blow. During the First World War and the years immediately following it, Bosch found itself cut off from the world market. Its patents were expropriated and released by the victorious powers, removing more than half of the company‘s assets in a single blow. Bosch was unable to prevent the American government from expropriating Bosch Magneto Company, including its factories in Springfield und Plainfield, and selling it to an American investment group.

The dispute over trademark rights

Not only had its operations outside Germany been expropriated, but Bosch also suffered from the fact that the company, now in American hands, was continuing to produce automotive components under the Bosch name. However, the products were not of the same high quality that Bosch had insisted on ever
since it started doing business. The newly created American Bosch Magneto Corporation (ABMC) advertised its products using the Bosch name, and took the Stuttgart company to court in an attempt to prevent it from using its trade
name in the U.S. In order to distinguish its own goods from those of ABMC, products manufactured by Robert Bosch Magneto Company Inc. – which was newly founded in New York in 1921 – were branded with the “armature in a circle” trademark developed by Gottlob Honold, and bore the word “Germany.”

It was only in 1929/1930 that the issue of trademark rights was settled in a series of agreements. Robert Bosch Magneto Company Inc. was given the right to use the “Bosch” trade name without any further qualification all over the world, including the U.S., while American Bosch Magneto Corporation had to use the name “American Bosch” only, wherever it sold its products. In the same year as this settlement, Robert Bosch Magneto Company Inc. managed to obtain a share in this American-led company. The two companies merged to form United American Bosch Corporation, based in Springfield. This organization was known simply as American Bosch Corporation (ABC) from 1938, and in 1941/42, during the Second World War, it was once again expropriated by the U.S. authorities. Once the political unrest resulting from the war had largely died down, Bosch was able to gain a foothold in the U.S. once more. In 1953, a new sales office, Robert Bosch Corporation, was founded in New York. It was not until 1983 that the Bosch Group won back the trademark rights expropriated during the war and finally regained the unrestricted right to use the Bosch name worldwide.

Bosch in North America today

Today, Bosch employs over 23,000 people at around 80 different locations across North America. Nearly all the company‘s areas of activity are represented in the North American market, with a particular focus on automotive
technology. In the longer term, Bosch sees a bright future for its diesel technology in North America. The company also sees considerable growth potential for its ESP® safety system. Tests in the U.S. have shown that this technology considerably reduces the risk of road accidents. The efforts made by founder Robert Bosch have paid off. Following the rapid growth in business at the beginning of the 20th century, and in spite of the severe blows which the company suffered as a result of war, Bosch has become successfully established in the U.S., which is now one of its biggest markets.