The other sectors within the company are Communications Technology, Consumer Goods, and Capital Goods. Bosch has automotive equipment manufacturing at 111 locations in 27 countries. In 1999 the Bosch Group invested approximately 3.7 billion DM in research and development. Patent wise, Bosch is in second place in Germany, second to Siemens , which is a significantly larger concern. Dr. Bohr notes that even though Siemens has more patents, when the sales of the two companies are taken into account, Bosch has a bigger relative number of patents.
Capital spending is nontrivial.
For example, in 1998, the Engine Management, Gasoline Div., spent 300 million DM on machinery and buildings. Meanwhile, the Diesel Injection Technology Div. spent 800 million DM on the same. And these instances are the rule, not the exception. One of Bosch's most important automotive products is the fuel injector. The then-fully German company put fuel injection in the '54 Mercedes 300 SL, which is undoubtedly more famous for its gullwing door design than for what was beneath the hood.