Bosch expect automotive production to fall by 20% this year, as the coronavirus pandemic slams the brakes on factory production lines and saps demand.
“We are bracing ourselves for a global recession that will also have a considerable impact on our own performance in 2020,” Bosch CFO Stefan Asenkerschbaumer said in a statement.
“Given the many imponderables, we feel unable to make a reasonable forecast for the Bosch Group for the year as a whole. It will take a supreme effort to achieve at least a balanced result.”
To cut costs, Bosch have postponed investments, reduced working hours for half of their staff in Germany, and imposed salary reductions; managers and executives are taking a 20 percent pay cut in April and May.
“Even if production has been ramped up again in China, and European industry is preparing for a ramp-up of its own, we have to steel ourselves for a severe global recession over 2020 as a whole,” the company said.