Bosch comes under the scanner

Bosch is amongst the top losers on the BSE, down over 2% at Rs.18,795, with an intra day low of Rs.18,500. Volumes though remain muted at some 1400-odd shares traded today. Its 52-week low is Rs.17,505 and market cap at over Rs.59,000 crore.

The news today morning on the counter is that the US Federal is now investigating Bosch, which supplied auto parts to Volkswagen, for its role in the cheat. Bosch provides the EDC17 engine control module and other basic software for almost all the four-cylinder diesel engines sold in North America, including models by Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes-Benz. Those systems control how vehicles clean spent fuel before releasing it as exhaust.

The investigation will essentially be about proving whether or not Bosch knew that VW was using their technology to evade emissions requirements. As of now, the investigation is in its preliminary stages and no evidence of foul play has been discovered by U.S. prosecutors at Bosch so far. It remains unclear how much Bosch knew about Volkswagen’s use of their test mode, and how closely Bosch worked with Volkswagen in the test mode’s development.