AUTOMOTIVE PCEO
Overcoming complexity to capture the value of Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) approved lubricants
Sarah Rowley, Marketing Manager, Lubrizol
The European passenger car market is made up of a large collection of OEMs, covering new vehicles to older vehicles, all with a variety of lubricant performance requirements. These vehicles combined create a vehicle parc of over 300 million, yielding a significant but highly complex lubricant market. However, where there is great complexity there is also notable opportunity.
To capitalise on the opportunity oil marketers must skilfully find a way to navigate the breadth of OEM specifications and manufacturing considerations required to support the diverse vehicle parc to develop a winning passenger car lubricant portfolio.
But the European lubricant market is not one to stand still, driven by legislation such as the current Euro 6 and future Euro 7 emissions standards, the European automotive industry is continuously evolving. Legislation demands improved efficiency and reduced vehicle emissions but consumers desire vehicle choice to meet their personal transportation needs, as such one size does not fit all, and complexity starts to propagate.
OEMs continuously advance vehicle technology (for example, downsized turbocharged engines and electrified powertrains) but this comes with compromises such as more severe operating conditions driving the need for higher quality lubricant performance. To ensure lubricants are capable of meeting these demands industry specifications,
such as ACEA 2021 for light-duty engines, underpin bespoke OEM specifications which are continuously updated by OEMs in order to ensure lubricant performance keeps apace with vehicle powertrain evolution.
An array of challenging OEM specifications for OEM approvals The creation of bespoke OEM specifications ensures OEMs can protect their specific hardware from any areas of concern, but they also enable the development of tailored efficiency targets to maximise fuel economy.
OEM specifications feature highly technical and demanding laboratory and engine tests to ensure a lubricant can deliver performance under the most severe conditions. However, each OEM takes a unique approach to this, leading to a multitude of individual specifications with competing performance requirements.
In addition to these specifications OEMs create an aligned approval system with vehicle / engine usage recommendations, ensuring an easy way for vehicle workshops to select the correct lubricant for a given vehicle and subsequently minimising any risk of using the wrong lubricant.
The value of an OEM approved portfolio The value of an oil marketer ensuring their portfolio contains OEM-approved lubricants is twofold.
Continued on page 24 LUBE MAGAZINE NO.175 JUNE 2023 23
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