Bosch, the world’s largest automotive parts maker, said Tuesday that it will invest more than 62 billion won ($60 million) in South Korea this year.

Hermann Kaess, president of Bosch Korea, said about 60 billion won will be used for the local production of gasoline and diesel direct injection systems at its Daejeon plant, some 140 kilometers from Seoul.

Bosch Rexroth, a Bosch affiliate specializing in drive and control technologies, also plans to further invest 1 billion won for the expansion of its Busan plant, which opened last October.

“Looking to 2014, we expect regional sales to pick up significantly and grow double-digit over the year, mainly due to the development of the automotive technology business,” the chief executive said at the company’s annual press conference held in Seoul on Tuesday.

Last year, Bosch logged 1.8 trillion won in sales in Korea, one of the German company’s top 10 markets.

Korea’s gasoline engineering sector is its third-largest market, said Manfred Bentz, president of gasoline systems of Bosch Korea.

(jylee@heraldcorp.com)