Low carbon base stocks, plant based esters and advanced synthetics were prominent. Goncord Oil, with significant synthetic ester capacity and partnerships with PetroChina, BASF and Dow, and BELLINI SPA are positioning renewable feedstocks as a credible performance option with a lower lifecycle carbon footprint. These approaches are not yet universal, but they are moving from lab curiosity to commercial pilot.
Supply chain partnerships Emerging intermediaries are also stepping into the supply chain. RT Chem B.V. (Netherlands) is positioning itself as a facilitator between Chinese manufacturers and European customers, focusing on lubricant additives, base oils, and logistics - effectively packaging supply, compliance navigation, and delivery into a single proposition.
In a European example of localisation aimed at the Asian market, German motor oils and additives manufacturer Liqui Moly announced in September 2025 the opening of a new production facility in Thailand - its first outside Germany. By blending locally, the company will cut delivery times, lower costs, and build a more agile supply chain, less vulnerable to disruption.
From its Thai base, Liqui Moly also plans to serve Australia, reducing its carbon footprint by avoiding long ocean shipments from Germany and reinforcing sustainability as part of its growth strategy.
The shift in demand from West to East is no longer a forecast but a commercial reality, reinforced by trade flows, exhibitor behaviour, and the strategic choices companies are now making about where to innovate and where to scale.
What these exhibitions ultimately revealed is an industry that is neither retreating nor waiting for clarity. It is adapting in layers, tactically through formulation evolution, structurally through supply-chain redesign, and strategically through long-term horizon plays on materials science and renewable feedstocks. Sustainability, once a marketing veneer, is now embedded in engineering decisions, feedstock strategies, and nearshoring (which rose to prominence post Covid) will continue to gather pace, fuelled by external geo-political factors.
Perhaps the most striking reminder of this resilience comes from the very market many assumed would contract fastest. The automotive additives segment now exceeding 4 million tonnes, continues to confound expectations by holding firm on ICE, underscoring a broader truth running through both exhibitions: the transition will be uneven, at different speeds and far more geographically differentiated than early narratives suggested.
In that sense, the two shows did more than showcase products. They captured an industry in motion, pragmatic, globally rebalanced, and increasingly confident that its future will be shaped not by a single technology pathway, but by its ability to innovate across multiple pathways.
Michael Herson is a director of London-based The Strategy Works, a strategy insight and value chain consultancy, specialising in both automotive and marine lubricants & additives market segments. He can be contacted at:
mherson@thestrategyworks.com
thestrategyworks.com
Recalibration reshapes the landscape From Shanghai and Düsseldorf, the message was unmistakable: the lubricants industry is actively reorganising itself around new centres of gravity, new technical demands, and new forms of partnership.
44 LUBE MAGAZINE NO.191 FEBRUARY 2026
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