The global automotive market has been severely impacted by the financial crises which led to a customer credit squeeze and ensuing economic crises. The decline in car production has accelerated in the past six months, with the lowest production levels for a decade being recorded.
This has affected the global automotive supply chain, including Bosal, with several plants suffering from lower production volumes in its OEM customer base. It is Bosal's challenge to adapt its organization to the new market circumstances by trimming production capacity to match market demand and customer need. This process has already started with the building of new manufacturing plants that consolidate existing plants in Hungary, Turkey, South Africa and North America to deliver higher efficiency. The Group continues to introduce innovative products that stimulate customer demand by meeting customer requirements and is also investing in new & developing markets. Managing the Bosal Group according to its strong core family values is a key asset in maintaining Bosal's competitiveness in the global market.
For the longer term Bosal is making significant investments in the development of high temperature heat exchanger components and natural gas reformers for fuel cells. We believe that this new market segment will grow significantly in the next three years, since the technology is a major contributor to meet the new environmental requirements of our global customer base.
This year we are starting to install solar photovoltaic (PV) panels on many Bosal manufacturing and office buildings. This investment in 'green' electricity generation will help the Group to reduce CO2 emissions and cut running costs.
We look forward to growing fruther in these challenging times. We will take the appropriate actions to ensure customer satisfaction by delivering customer needs and therefore maintaining customer confidence.