Foreword of annual report

“Ambitions,” the title of our annual report, is intended as a strong message. Even in times of global economic weakness, difficult market conditions, and business and political uncertainty, we have the future in our sights. We are pursuing our long-term growth strategy, even if sales revenue and result did not make headway in the 2024 fiscal year. We are determined to press ahead with the technologies that will be decisive in tomorrow’s world. But we also have to adjust if the technological trends we are pushing are not so fast to arrive, or if regional priorities shift. Fundamentally, however, we believe we are on the right track with our business focus on mobility, industrial technology, consumer goods, and energy and building technology. As before, there are considerable opportunities for growth here.

Digitalization, electrification, electronification, automation, sustainability, and emerging markets are still the main forces driving developments. They are subjects that have been on our radar for quite some time now. In addition, we want to continue to extend our global presence, which even now creates significant local value. Europe is our home base. But we are also strengthening the Bosch Group’s operations in regions such as North America and Asia. Not least, this is our response to the imminent changes in global trade relations, as well as to the differing speeds at which regions are currently adopting technologies of the future such as electromobility and automated driving. A better regional balance was also one of the reasons behind a major strategic move in 2024 — the acquisition we plan in the heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning segment.

To be able to seize our opportunities, we are working intensively on our costs and structures. Our aim is to make the Bosch Group robust in the face of longer-term challenges. We are doing so in the knowledge that the measures this requires will initially burden our earnings. That also applies to the year ahead. To strengthen our profitability, putting these measures into practice is a top priority. High profitability and sound finances will give us the entrepreneurial freedom we need to secure a strong and meaningful development for our company over the long term, as our company founder Robert Bosch would have wanted. The adjustments this calls for will mean sacrifices for the associates affected. We want to find ways of shaping the necessary transformation responsibly. This also applies to the divestment of parts of the company. Especially a diversified company like Bosch has to regularly examine its portfolio and, where necessary, adjust it. Only if it does so can we reap the benefits of diversification, and thus make the company more robust. In 2025, for example, we want to sell off major parts of the Building Technologies division’s product business. Under their new owner, they will have additional opportunities for development. Our task, then, is a demanding one. We have to push forward with our strategy and, as a major technology company, help shape markets — on the basis of robust and competitive structures. This also includes taking even greater advantage of the potential offered by artificial intelligence, whether in our products or in our processes.

We are well aware that we will have to overcome some considerable obstacles. We will tackle them with great determination. We owe our more than 400,000 associates, as well as our business partners and customers, our thanks. In publishing our annual report, we want not only to present our business figures, but also to convey an idea of why we are so sure of our ambitions, and of how we want to tackle the challenges that come with them.

With best regards,

Dr. Stefan Hartung
Chairman of the board of management