Peter Tyroller, member of the German engineering and electronics giant’s board of management and president for Asia-Pacific, said the Asia-Pacific region had several factors that contributed to its growth going forward, especially in Southeast Asia.

Bosch considers Thailand to be an important manufacturing location, with the country still the automotive hub of Asean, he said.

The Kingdom will serve the integration of Asean as a single manufacturing base following implementation of the Asean Economic Community, with automotive manufacturing in Asean expected to rank fifth worldwide in terms of output by 2023, he added.

“We are expanding our manufacturing footprint in Thailand to match industry growth. This includes our latest investment – a new GS [gasoline systems] plant to research, develop, test and manufacture fuel-injector system components, which is also the first fuel-injector facility for Bosch in Asean,” Tyroller said.

Thailand posted the highest sales revenue for Bosch in Southeast Asia at €285 million last year – some 22 per cent higher than the previous year – and its local unit employed 1,110 people, or “associates” as Bosch calls them.

The company is investing €43 million in Thailand this year, with more investment expected next year for the company’s first gasoline-injection system plant in Southeast Asia.

Production at the new plant is scheduled to commence in the middle of the year, with 800 new jobs at the facility by the end of 2017.

“The Asia-Pacific region contributes 27 per cent to the group’s total sales, and we aim to increase this percentage further,” the executive said, adding that the group had allocated one-quarter of its investment since 2013 to the region.

Bosch recently announced specific investment plans for Asia-Pacific, having already invested €2.5 billion in the region over the past three years, both in emerging and established markets.

“In 2016, we are also planning to invest around €1.2 billion in Asia-Pacific,” Tyroller said.