Bosch Mobility strengthens Americas focus, Paul Thomas named president of Americas region

Farmington Hills, Mich. – Today Bosch announced a new regional board to oversee its mobility business in North and South America, led by Paul Thomas as president of the Americas for Bosch Mobility. Bosch, which is the largest automotive supplier in the world according to independent rankings, recently announced a realignment of its global mobility business beginning in January 2024 as Bosch Mobility. A major focus of the realignment is strengthening the regions to serve existing and new customer needs even better and faster with customized technologies and solutions.

Beginning January 2024, Paul Thomas will step into the new role of president, Americas and lead the Bosch Mobility Americas regional board. Thomas will oversee technology, strategy, and sales for the Americas region.

“Paul has a proven track record of driving growth in our mobility business. His leadership will be critical to help us support our customers and reach our potential in a key growth region for Bosch globally,” said Mike Mansuetti, president of Bosch in North America. Mansuetti continues in his role leading Bosch growth across all four of the company’s sectors in North America, a portfolio with $15.3 billion in 2022 sales.

Thomas currently serves as executive vice president of Mobility Solutions, Americas where he is responsible for sales, marketing and quality for the region’s $10 billion mobility business. He is also globally responsible for Bosch business with Ford Motor Company. He has more than 25 years of mobility experience and has held senior leadership positions in the areas of sales, production control, logistics, manufacturing and business unit management. His global leadership experience while at Bosch includes several years abroad in Germany, as well as responsibilities in the areas of global product development and global commercial sales. Thomas completed an immersive management regimen at Carnegie Mellon University, with a distinct focus on innovation and the management of global teams.

“Bosch brings a rich history and expertise in both the software and hardware domains,” said Paul Thomas. “Our broad portfolio enables us to bring customers technology-neutral solutions which are essential for supporting a variety of approaches across North and South America.”

Mobility business structured to support market trends

The structure of Bosch Mobility recognizes the increased focus on and impact of software on the vehicle. The automotive software market is likely to reach a volume of significantly more than $200 billion by 2030. Bosch already has four decades of experience developing vehicle software in-house and already more than half of its R&D associates globally for the mobility business are software engineers. The new structure builds on the company’s long history in software while adapting for emerging market trends.

From a functional standpoint, the individual divisions of the business sector will be reorganized effective January 1, 2024. All divisions will be given horizontal, cross-divisional responsibilities as well. The aim for this new structure is that Bosch Mobility will generate sales revenue of more than $84 billion worldwide by 2029, a more than 50 percent increase from 2022.

Bosch Mobility will be organized into seven divisions:

• Electrified Motion will be concerned with everything relating to electric motors, from the Bosch e-axle to seat adjusters.
• Vehicle Motion will deal with vehicle dynamics, from ABS and ESP to steering.
• Power Solutions will handle combustion-engine technology, mobile and stationary fuel cells, electrolyzers and hydrogen engines.
• Cross-Domain Computing Solutions will develop solutions for areas ranging from automated parking to driver assistance and automated driving.
• Mobility Electronics will drive forward the development of control units and manage in-house semiconductor activities at Bosch.
• Mobility Aftermarket will deal with the secondary parts market and the Bosch Car Service workshop franchise.
• E-Bike Systems will supply systems solutions – comprising drive units, rechargeable batteries, ABS, and connected displays – for e-bikes.
• The Bosch subsidiary ETAS will be given horizontal responsibility for hardware-agnostic software for operating systems and engineering tools.

Regional board will focus on driving growth in the Americas

To complement the new business structure, regional boards support the global divisions of Bosch Mobility by recognizing the unique factors in different regions, including customer needs, supply chains, regulations and talent sustainability. The Bosch Mobility Americas board, which interfaces directly with the global sector board for Bosch Mobility, is tasked to lead growth in a key market for Bosch, building upon the $10 billion of mobility sales generated in the Americas region in 2022. As president, Paul Thomas will lead the four-person regional board for Bosch Mobility Americas:

Mohammed Abraham will be responsible for Bosch Mobility Americas commercial affairs, including finance and controlling, and will also serve as regional president of the Vehicle Motion division for North America. Abraham has more than 20 years of international executive experience, focusing on creating sustainable profitable growth and developing strong leadership teams with an emphasis on high performance. He currently serves as regional president of the Chassis Systems Control division in North America and previously held several global leadership positions, including as a member of the global executive management team for the company’s Chassis Systems Control division.

Gaston Diaz Perez will be responsible for Bosch Mobility activities in Latin America. Perez, who also serves as president of Bosch in Latin America, previously held the position of regional president of Bosch in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and Paraguay as well as executive vice president of Bosch Latin America. He has held international financial and commercial leadership positions in Argentina, Spain, Brazil and Germany since joining Bosch in 2000.

Hanns Bernd Ketteler will lead operations for Bosch Mobility Americas, including responsibility for all mobility manufacturing sites in the Americas region. Ketteler has spent nearly three decades supporting global programs and products spanning across the Mobility Solutions portfolio of Bosch. Most recently, he served as a member of the global executive management team for the Automotive Steering division of Bosch.