39
FUELS & LUBES INTERNATIONAL
Quarter Three 2014
That’s the position of Chris Locke, vice
president of marketing and technology for
Infineum, one of the world’s leading sup-
pliers of fuel and lubricant additives. Locke
has been directly involved in specifica-
tion development of both the American
Petroleum Institute (API) and European
Automobile Manufacturer’s Association
(ACEA) systems for almost 20 years.
Under the current system, only a hand-
ful of Asian original equipment manu-
facturers (OEMs) are actively involved in
the API- and ACEA-specification setting
process, yet Asia is the biggest player on
the world’s automotive stage and should be
an integral part of the specification-setting
process, Locke noted.
“Asia, driven by China, has rapidly
emerged as the global growth engine of
the lubricants business,” said Locke in his
remarks during F+L Week (FLW) held in
Singapore in March. “So, clearly, Asia not
only will be but is already an equal player
on the world stage and will soon grow to be
the largest regional market.”
Yet, Locke said, the Asian OEMs are
largely outsiders to the current specifica-
tion-setting process.
Locke noted that Asia accounted for 39%
of the global automotive lubricant volume
in 2010, and that number is expected to rise
to 43% by 2015 and 50% by the end of the
decade. This is driven by the extraordinary
growth in vehicle production and quality
level, mostly in China.
Contrast that to the relatively miniscule
growth that is forecast for North America
and Europe: from 10.5 million tons in 2010
to just 10.6 million tons in 2025. That’s 15
years of almost no growth.
Under the current specification sys-
tem, Locke said, the impetus for change
is consumers. Consumers bring pressure
on government for things like air quality
improvement. This translates to action by
legislators who then require compliance by
engine manufacturers. Such legislation is
regional, and the impact of legislation on
hardware trends occurs at the regional level.
Moving down the lubricants chain,
OEMs, oil marketers and additive com-
panies work together to develop products
that help the manufacturers meet these
standards through greater fuel efficiency
without compromising performance and
Thedevelopmentofautomotive
lubricant specifications is
dominated by the interests
of the North American and
European markets. However,
the system must change to
reflect the emergence of Asia
as the driving force of the
global lubricants industry.
Chris Locke
