In 1906, Bosch had around 600 associates working in Stuttgart, where the company originated. The company had been expanding in Europe since 1898, but now took its first step onto another continent, opening its first sales office in South Africa; a move that practically coincided with the opening of its first office in the U.S. Friedrich Hoppert & Co. of Hamburg, which had an office in Johannesburg, was contracted to sell products from Stuttgart. It continued to work for Bosch for the next 40 years. The two world wars had a severe impact on business in South Africa, with the Second World War proving particularly damaging because of the destruction of the company‘s production facilities in Germany. By 1950, Bosch sales and the size of its workforce had exceeded pre-war levels, but activities outside Germany accounted for just 10 % of total sales. Bosch responded to this situation by re-establishing its international activities. In South Africa, Technical Supplies Company (Pty.) Ltd. in Johannesburg was granted exclusive marketing rights in 1950.

Bosch sales office in Johannesburg, 1929.

Diesel-Electric and Auto Electrical Engineering

Another milestone was reached in 1951 with the foundation of Diesel-Electric, a Cape Town-based subsidiary of the above-mentioned Technical Supplies, which was given the job of marketing Bosch diesel products. The year 1956 also proved, with hindsight, to be an important year for Bosch in South Africa, seeing the foundation of Auto Electrical & Engineering Co (Pty.) Ltd. (AESA) in Johannesburg. This South African automotive supplier, which moved to Brits outside Johannesburg in 1971, became a Bosch subsidiary and production site in 1976.

Robert Bosch South Africa

On August 6, 1965, Bosch founded Robert Bosch South Africa (Pty.) Ltd. in Johannesburg in order to take charge of sales and to establish local production capacities. In 1973, Robert Bosch GmbH acquired a 30 % holding in Diesel-
Electric Holdings (Pty.) Ltd. (DEH), which was also based in Johannesburg and had until then been selling Bosch diesel products. In 1977, DEH was merged with sister company Robosa Distributors (Pty.) Ltd., which handled the marketing
and advertising of Bosch products, to form Diesel-Electric-South-Africa (Pty.) Ltd. – “DESA” for short. In 1983, this company became a wholly-owned Bosch subsidiary.

Takeover and reorganization

The year 1985 also saw a great deal of reorganization, this time with the merger of Diesel-Electric-South-Africa and Auto Electrical & Engineering Co (Pty.) Ltd. to form Robert Bosch (South Africa) (Pty.) Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Robert Bosch GmbH. This company coordinated all activities from production through to sales. In 1998, the new sales center was opened in Midrand, 70 kilometers from Brits, bringing sales into line with the needs of the market in South
Africa. Today, some 1,100 associates are employed here and at the Brits plant.