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online sellers.
Apart from the severe competition, there is a concern about the quality and source of the lubricants being sold in the market- place. This applies to imported and local blend products.
“The issue of counterfeit products is not new but it remains prev- the genuine ones and there is a lack of enforcement,” said Choi.
Echoing what Choi said, another interviewee pointed out that for the moment, anyone could import engine oil as a normal product. He said local importers could also import a well-known brand from the authorised distributor in other countries, unlike Indonesia that had a clear law prohibiting this.
products purchased from hypermarkets and online stores, with a - products. For the other brands, the advice is to always buy from an authorised dealer.
Be ready for challenges
- Ringgit led to lower imports.
compared to engine oil. “A slower growth is projected till 2030 when the EV trend is predicted to reach critical point for all stakeholders (carmakers, consumers, primary and secondary part manufacturers and service providers). Last but not least, things might still change till 2030 with the rapid evolution of technology into the EV space.”
other emerging markets. “I believe it would not happen overnight but gradually. Therefore, we would still have internal combustion engine cars around that need lubricants or we could export our lubricant products to emerging markets such as Africa, which would probably take 30 to 40 years to realise full EV adoption.” Having said that, Choi pointed out the demand for industrial oil and from other transportation sectors such as marine and rail would continue to grow.
and challenging. Attractive as it continues to attract many new players to the industry, mainly spare-part suppliers and some tyre suppliers trying to expand their product range. Challeng- ing because there are many players in the market. To grow, companies need to come out with new strategies by expanding product range, increasing customer engagement and providing value-added services.
- and VoxLube increased them twice. We have been absorbing two to three per cent of the cost and increased price only once,” he added.
Given this scenario, Choi said it was important to have two - cant would be a big advantage as it allowed the company to
For Promax Lubricant, Choi revealed its sales volume was main- of the company’s total sales were for the export market.
Promotional programmes such as sponsoring signboards and equipment to reward and increase dealer engage- ment continued, but with a tighter criterion and being more selective.
As for the growth area, Tay Hsing Thye, Executive Director, HT Lubricant, said synthetic oil was a good potential as more con- sumers follow the carmaker’s recommendations and car owner- ship cycles were shorter than before.
EVs (electric vehicles) are certainly a threat to automotive lu- bricant players. The challenges, Tay said, would depend on the speed of market demand. Battery EVs did not need en- gine oil as they didn’t require oil changes. However, Tay added and grease, might still be needed, albeit in very small volumes
30 the tyreman 2023/4
