First Bosch Auto Service location opens its doors
How can small workshops make the leap into the age of electromobility? Bosch Auto Service is here to help. The first location in California opened its doors in May.
The first sunbeams break through the morning fog over Salinas, a town near San Francisco. The tranquil scene is interrupted only by the occasional roar of Highway 101, where the first trucks of the day are on the road. In the nearby industrial park, Jim Adams opens the door to his car workshop “I opened the business with my father in 1976, and we’ve been handling all kinds of repairs ever since,” Adams says.
The first franchisee
At the front desk, he meets up with Ruben Castillo, a long-serving member of staff who now runs the business. “Just six months ago, everything looked different here,” Castillo says. Since then, the team has replaced old leather furniture with brightly colored fabric chairs and repainted the exterior. A Bosch logo now adorns the front desk; Bosch windshield wipers and brake disks hang on the walls for sale. In February, Dick Adams Automotive became Bosch Auto Service’s first franchisee.
In 2022, Ulrike Jaschek and Emily Eastman, who is responsible for marketing and branding, founded the start-up within Bosch’s Mobility Aftermarket division. Its goal? To become a sales partner for independent workshops in the United States. “The mobility transition from the internal-combustion engine to alternative powertrains poses major challenges for workshops,” says Jaschek, as she makes her way through Adams’ workshop. At one of the five car lifts, a technician is checking the brake pads of a Mercedes. “Companies need new knowledge and different equipment. They need to adjust to the new age of mobility,” says Jaschek.
That is where Bosch Auto Service comes in. As Bosch partners, workshops receive strategic advice to make their business more productive. They also benefit from support on topics such as long-term customer loyalty and training their staff in new technologies. In return, they pay a monthly fee and operate under the Bosch Auto Service brand. They purchase their workshop equipment, certain diagnostic machines, and production parts from Bosch.
A new company
“Our concept is based on Bosch Car Service, which has been around for more than 100 years,” Jaschek says. “The model wasn’t profitable in the U.S. due to the way the laws work, which is why we ended it two years ago.” The only way to ask independent businesses in the United States to pay license fees to use the Bosch business concept and brand would have been as part of a franchise model. However, doing so would have required Bosch to disclose many confidential financial performance indicators and other corporate information. “That’s why we founded a new company, Bosch Auto Service, and reworked the concept at the same time,” Jaschek explains. “Now we can support workshops even better with our know-how and technology and drive the aftermarket business forward.” The aim is to develop a network of workshops that uphold the quality standards and innovative strength of Bosch.
10
franchisees by the end of 2024 — that is Bosch Auto Service’s goal.
“The owners retain ownership of their workshops, but we work hand in hand with them,” says Nick Rodgers, who advises the workshop on behalf of Bosch and is currently explaining something to a mechanic on an iPad. “We have analyzed the financial figures and processes. That helps the people who manage workshops identify challenges that affect productivity and customer satisfaction. We have also set up a digital shop management system.” The support is most extensive at the beginning, he explains. Rodgers plans to visit the workshop on a quarterly basis and touch base on a monthly basis once the analyses have been completed and the new systems are working. Along with Rodgers, Jaschek’s team is made up of 14 associates who are responsible for IT, finance, legal affairs, marketing, and branding, as well as consulting and sales.
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Climbing to the top
Castillo comes into the garage to talk to Jaschek, Rodgers, and the technicians. “We’re seeing more and more electric vehicles in North America too,” he says. “At the moment, we’re still performing traditional brake repairs and oil changes, but soon we’re going to need to be familiar with electric motors and fuel-cell powertrains if we want to serve our customers.” That’s why he supports Adams’ decision to position the workshop for the future with Bosch as a partner. “We want to be the number-one workshop in Salinas and offer the best customer service.” In just this short time, Castillo has already benefited greatly from Bosch’s support. “We now work digitally, with all the technicians recording their time per job,” he explains. “That lets us finish more orders in the same amount of time.”
The partnership with the workshops offers many opportunities for Bosch as well. “We get to know the needs of the businesses and can respond to them,” Jaschek says. Bosch Auto Service aims to have ten franchise locations in California and Texas by the end of 2024. “Those states are our biggest markets,” Jaschek explains. “They’re where the technology of the future is being created, they’re where we see the most electric cars on the roads, and they’re where a lot of money is being invested.”
Workshops have to meet a few criteria in order to become franchisees. They need financial reserves, a team of mechanics, and a certain order volume. Above all, though, they should be focused on the future and looking for strategic options for their business in the long term. “We’re only just getting started. The focus is on earning the trust of workshops and winning them over for our concept.” For workshop owners, Bosch is a well-known brand that stands for quality, reliability, and engineering expertise. “Through our concept, we also want to make Bosch known as an automotive and technology company among consumers in the U.S. as well.”
For over 100 years: Cooperation with workshops worldwide
