For this German Industrial Giant, Localisation, Electric Cars and Altruism is the Future

Martin Hayes, President and Managing Director of Bosch in Southeast Asia & Managing Director of Robert Bosch Sdn Bhd Malaysia discusses:

- Damage to Japan’s industrial base as a result of the earthquake and tsunami, the ensuing nuclear disaster and its impact on the Asia-Pacific car industry;
- Whether automotive supply chains will seize up and car production suffer;
- What this means for a country like Malaysia, whose car consumption is very much tied to the Japanese car industry;
- The impact of the Eurozone's debt problems on German industrial giants like Bosch, Volkswagen and Siemens;
- Where Asia is in terms of automotive engineering capabilities, engine development and design;
- Plans by German industrial companies (such as Daimler, Siemens and BASF) in 'localising' their their products to local market needs;
- Annual R&D spend and geographical segmentation on R&D;
- Impact of rising raw material prices on future growth and profitability;
- Views of Malaysia's Proton project;
- Thailand's success with the car industry, and his views on how they appear to have cracked it;
- Bosch's joint plans to develop and produce electric engines with partners like Samsung and what it means for the car industry;
- Bosch's heavy investment (up to 9 percent of its revenue) on research and development and what it means;
- How Bosch is almost entirely owned by a charitable foundation (92%) and how and why has the structure evolved in this way.