China's automotive market, which saw a slowdown in vehicle sales since 2018 alongside the overall economy, is expected to continue a longer-term growth albeit at a slower pace, Bosch, the world's largest car-parts maker, said.

David Xu, executive vice president of Bosch China, said that the company – which also provides other hardware and software mobility solutions including autonomous driving and electrification – however, will continue investing heavily in China.

"The long term (growth) for China, we still believe that this auto market will grow, but maybe not as rapid as before. We used to be like plus 15 percent, plus 20 percent growth. But those days are gone. But we still believe the needs for the vehicle are still here," said Xu.

Xu, who spoke to CGTN at the sidelines of the ongoing 2020 Beijing auto show, said that in China, the current ratio in terms of the number of vehicles per 1,000 people was around 150. 

"But we believe China will be saturated at a much higher level, more than 200 cars per thousand people, or even getting close to 300. So still there is room to grow. But we're gonna talk about probably slower growth year over year for the next coming 10 years," he said.

Xu said Bosch would continue to "invest heavily in China" every year, as the company still the market will grow despite the coronavirus pandemic. 

"We still invest a lot in China. Because we know this market, this is globally is one of the biggest markets right now and will remain the biggest market from a global standpoint." 

Meanwhile, Xu said he believed that fully autonomous vehicles in mass production will happen but may take more years, but was optimistic about its progress. 

"I think automation is a dream of every automotive person that in the future everybody will ride on a level four level five, fully automated vehicle. But the process from today to that great future will take steps," he said.

"As of today, you can see we have many level two level functions. Globally, we launched more than 60 projects with this kind of level two assistant functions. But level three, we believe it's coming," he said, adding that this delay can be attributed to manufacturers and legal issues as well.

"We know on one side, electrification is growing rapidly. But at the same time, we believe by the year of 2030, there will be two-third of vehicles that will still be powered by traditional engines," he said.

Earlier this year, Bosch CEO Volkmar Denner said global car-production has stagnated and does not expect major increases before 2025.

(Lily Lyu also contributed to this story.)