Bosch Offers New Express Bike Service Workshop for Two Wheelers

Bosch Automotive Aftermarkets has recently ventured into service centres for two wheelers. The news came after an official announcement from the company. Industrial hub down south India, Coimbatore, saw the inauguration of as many as 10 Express Bike Service (EBS). Thus, Bosch now has a total of 11 such centres in India. When you think of the big name in the automotive industry, Bosch surely pops up in between, though it is certainly not into production of any running machine. Yet Bosch has been one of the top names! With its various indulges, this Fortune 500 company has given 92% of its share to a non-profit foundation, thus becoming one of the most admired company from the Fortune’s list. Now with the plans of EBS spreading throughout the country, Bosch seems a new dawn. The aim behind this step of opening up EBS is that Bosch wants to shorten the large service network gap in India, a country that has more than 8 crore two wheelers running across on its roads, thus standing second in the world.

With these many number of two wheelers in the country, there are just as many riders who crave for a reliable and trustworthy service option once their warranty period expires. With a huge gap here, Bosch intends to fill this gap, with the company already enjoying the crown when it comes to offering vehicle repairs. On the event of inaugurating the EBS at Coimbatore, the VP, Mr. S Muralidharan (automotive aftermarket), had to say, “With Bosch Car Service, Express Car Service and now Express Bike Service, Bosch has set new benchmarks in the service domain and we are planning aggressively to expand our footprint.”

In all its 11 service stations, Bosch does not intend to limit itself to one or the other brand of two wheelers. Bosch would provide its services to all the brands of two wheeler manufacturers. Bosch provides trusted and genuine parts of two wheelers, equipments for two wheeler workshops as part of its foray into EBS. As part of this initiative, Bosch wants to expand itself extensively throughout the country, with a plan of around 500 workshops, minimum, in the coming 2 years, while by the end of 2012, the aim is to have around 50 outlets. The company is already at the top when it comes to service providing network in India for technical unit repairing, which includes fuel injection and automotive electrical systems. It also provides car service space with more than 2000 workshops.

Bosch could be easily called the doctor of all vehicular segments, diagnosing all vehicle ailments, with as many well equipped clinics. Having facilities to help all kind of vehicles, be it two wheelers and four wheelers, what makes it better than the best is that it also provides training and other workshop processes for the same, which would apply to all the EBS outlets too. What adds on to this will be EBS being strengthened for petrol injection systems for two wheelers as well. Servicing of two wheelers will now be fun, with the whole concept of servicing being changed to a new meaning to it. All that the franchisee will have to do is deliver the service and simply managing the unit.
However, Bosch has has a competition from Castrol Bike Zones, though not too strong. At the outlets of Castrol, franchisee provides the services along with selling the Castrol products, especially the lubricants and training to the mechanics it hired. Though, Castrol also provided engine repairs, it is not much preferred by the riders because of the quality of services that a few of the outlets provide. The kind of repair services Castrol provided, many two wheelers manufacturers turned their backs to the company and went back to the regular road side service providers. Thus knowing what could hamper its profit, we expect Bosch to learn a lesson from what Castrol experienced. Also, Bosch is expected to fill this gap that Castrol ultimately created.