Total volume for automotive filters world-wide currently amounts to €4.5 billion, with global growth of around 2 percent per annum expected up to 2015. “Expanding our filter business is an integral part of our growth strategy in the Automotive Aftermarket Division,” says Peter Tyroller, Bosch Board of Management member. “In acquiring the Purolator filter business, we are significantly improving our market position in the NAFTA region.”

“With Purolator, we are closing our strategic gap, as far as filtration facilities are concerned. We have been extending our activities specifically in this region since 1997”, said Dr. Dieter Seipler, CEO of MANN+HUMMEL. “For MANN+HUMMEL, Purolator perfectly compliments our business in North America in the OE sector and in the independent aftermarket.”

Bosch media enquiries:

Chris Wakley/ David Eden
Automotive PR
Tel: 020 7494 8050
Email: cwakley@automotivepr.com / deden@automotivepr.com

Bosch OE enquiries:

Beverley Daniels
Corporate Affairs Manager
Robert Bosch Limited
Tel: 01895 878155
Email: beverley.daniels@uk.bosch.com

About Bosch

The Bosch Group is a leading global manufacturer of automotive and industrial technology, consumer goods, and building technology . In fiscal 2005, some 250,000 associates generated sales of €42 billion, approximately $52.3 billion USD. Set up in Stuttgart in 1886 by Robert Bosch (1861-1942) as “Workshop for Precision Mechanics and Electrical Engineering,” the Bosch Group today compromises a manufacturing, sales, and after-sales service network of some 260 subsidiaries and more than 10,000 service centres in over 130 countries.

The special ownership structure of the Bosch Group guarantees its financial independence and entrepreneurial freedom. It makes it possible for the company to undertake significant up-front investments in the safeguarding of its future, as well as to do justice to its social responsibility in a manner reflective of the spirit and will of its founder. 92 percent of the shares of Robert Bosch GmbH are held by the charitable foundation Robert Bosch Stiftung. The entrepreneurial ownership functions are carried out by Robert Bosch Industrietreuhand KG.

Additional information can be accessed at www.bosch.com

About MANN+HUMMEL

The MANN+HUMMEL Group is an international company. In 2005, the company achieved sales of approx $1.6 million USD. The MANN+HUMMEL Group currently employs around 9,300 people at 41 locations worldwide. The company develops , produces and sells technically complex automotive components such as air filters, intake manifold systems, liquid filter systems and cabin filters for the automotive industry, and filter elements for vehicle servicing and repair. For general engineering, process engineering and industrial manufacturing sectors the company’s product range includes industrial filters, filter systems, and materials handling systems and equipment. MANN+HUMMEL’s customers come from a large number of sectors, with series production for the automotive industry occupying a key position.

Further information about MANN+HUMMEL can be found at www.mann-hummel.com