ausauto News Article

Bosch closes state-of-the-art-centre

The closure of the Mitsubishi car plant in 2008 is still being felt in the local aftermarket with the announcement that Robert Bosch is to close its state-of-the-art automotive test centre and move the work offshore.

About 20 people will lose their jobs which when added to the 170-odd redundancies in other areas of the Bosch operations does not bode well for the future of local aftermarket and OE manufacturing.

It is believed that the test centre work will go to India where Bosch recently opened a new test centre said to be stocked with equipment from the Australian centre.

In an interview with the online GoAuto, Robert Bosch Australia's corporate business manager Alex Haberle said that the Mitsubishi's Australian car manufacturing operations had left the test centre under utilized.

"The team here in Australia had been active in trying to find projects through local or regional acquisitions, mainly in the Korean, Malaysian and Thailand market.

"But after several years of not being able to convert those into Australian projects, we've had to close the test centre."

Full story see www.goauto.com.au