Welcome to a packed Spring Edition of the Bulletin in what is already becoming a busy year for OATS and for the lubes industry in general.
Since becoming a part of the Haynes Group, OATS' regional operations have expanded to help serve our customers better. As well as Europe and the US, our offices and market coverage continues to grow, with Australian and Mexican data now live and including more than 90% of passenger car and van VIO coverage. Next month should also see Brazilian data live at more than 80%.
Two major lubes conferences highlighted important news, trends and research recently. With Asia Pacific now a key OATS' focus, the 25th Anniversary Fuels and Lubes Asia Conference in Singapore allowed us to showcase our analytics and compare the European and Indian lubes markets. Our goal is to move to 80%+ lubes data across all key markets in the region within the next 3-6 months, whilst continuing to build our existing India and China data, as the two nations battle for oil consumption supremacy.
Meanwhile the 23rd ICIS World Base Oil and Lubes Conference in London also revealed important trends and news. What is clear from both conferences is the impact electric vehicles will have on the lubes industry and the huge change in the regulatory, economic and industrial landscape in China.
As China VIa and b become mandatory this year and next, levels of new electric vehicles outpace those in the rest of the world - interesting news for Tesla perhaps as it decides to close the majority of its physical stores to focus on online sales. In addition, the Chinese government is forcing industry to replace old or obsolete machinery with modern, high tech machinery which operates under heavier loads and higher temperatures.
As a result, lubricant volumes are set to continue to grow in this key market, but value is set to more than double by 2030 as the car parc, commercial vehicles and industry all demand more premium products. This is good news for lubes producers, OEMs and the environment.
Elesewhere, the polarisation of the global diesel passenger car market continues, while OEMs set out their stalls as tech companies and lubes suppliers explore the opportunities presented by Industry 4.0.
We hope you enjoy this edition of the OATS Bulletin. To find out more about our latest database developments, simply contact us via e-mail or call us on +44 (0)1793 616138.
Mike Skypala and the OATS team.