With satisfied customers in 84 countries along with thousands of tons of oil supplied each year to them, LOTOS Oil outclasses as a brand to reckon with, in both oil & lubricant markets around the world. Its oils and lubricants stand as the epitome of proven, high-quality, and advanced solutions that are exceeding most stringent technological standards.

In an exclusive conversation with siliconindia, Aleksandra Jankowska, Vice-President of LOTOS Oil has elucidated about the excellence of her company. Here are the excerpts!

A recent report predicts that the domestic automotive aftermarket is poised to touch Rs.75,000 crore by 2020. We are looking right at a more intensive competition. What makes LOTOS Oil stand-out in this crowded market?
Our distinguishing factor is the fact that we have our own refinery, own crude oil extraction, own base oils as well as the top location in Central Europe. These elements help us to provide a competitive offer and optimal logistics to the customers worldwide. LOTOS Oil products are recognized for their finest quality and reliability, besides being innovative, modern and on top of that – environmentally friendly. We are the leaders in lubrication technology, and we are committed to providing leader’s excellence.

From dynamic technology landscape to changing consumer behavior, what are some of the new-age challenges confronted by this market and how do you safeguard your company from these flaring challenges? Does your intense international footprint contribute towards trendsetting?
We monitor market trends and consumer behaviour on an ongoing basis and for this purpose we carry-out numerous market researches. Further, the world is becoming more and more globalized, which results in the development of LOTOS’ export activity and going beyond the Polish borders with the commercial offer.

In a market like in India, wherein a huge chunk of customers pursue low price points while also demanding intact quality, how do you maintain an equilibrium between quality and price?
Thanks to our own refinery, we are independent and able to provide a wide variety of ‘value for money’ products. That’s why LOTOS lubricants are sold in more than 80 countries and its sales network is growing from year to year. In fact, LOTOS brand is perceived as a synonym of high quality products, which is clearly evident from its awards such as

Consumer Laurel Award for Best Polish Engine Oils, Title of the Ambassador of the Polish Economy, The Golden Emblem Highest Quality - Quality International, Quality Leader 2017, and Good Brand 2019 - Quality, Reliability, Reputation.

Your company is best known for innovation and travelling abreast of the time. What’s the demand and gap in the market that propelled you to build this new product? What kinds of innovation and technologies are we looking at?
For 10 years LOTOS Oil has been one of the 23 members of the ATIEL – the most important organization of European lubricants manufacturers. Membership in this organization gives us the opportunity to participate in a direct discussion, among others, with car manufacturers associated with ACEA and CEC, who are dealing with the development of engine tests for fuels and future requirements of lubricants. As a result, our portfolio includes a highly specialized, energy-efficient, synthetic LOTOS QUAZAR DYNAMIC 508/509 SAE 0W-20 engine oil, designed mainly for the latest European models of cars, manufactured by Volkswagen Corporation. On the other hand, we see the need to supply users with oils holding a wide and universal range of applications, such as Turdus Powertec 5100 FE SAE 5W-30, which meets the requirements of all active performance categories of ACEA specifications for heavy-duty vehicle oils in a universal manner. In the field of industrial oils, product upgrades are the result of close cooperation with the end users.



Tell us about your manufacturing capability and R&D prowess, along with the talent pool and latest technologies that your company is working with.
LOTOS Oil is part of the Grupa LOTOS Capital Group, which owns a refinery plant located in Gdańsk, northern Poland, where GR I base oils are produced. LOTOS Oil uses mineral base oils manufactured in Gdansk for its own finished lubes production, which are produced both in Gdańsk and in the second production plant located in Southern Poland. The company cooperates with local institutes and universities as well as with the most important global manufacturers of additives. The team of technologists includes both young people just after graduation as well as experts with over 30 years of experience in the industry and who also hold academic degrees. The main scope of development work carried-out by our company is expanding the use of our own base oils. The result of this work is, among others, Transmil Extra XSP gear oil, which as the first oil based on mineral base oils met the requirements of Flender specification for gear oils, previously only met by oils based on base oils of higher groups, according to API.

Tell us about your company’s recent revenue growth, and the future roadmap.
Our plan is to develop LOTOS brand on the Indian market. Our strategy is to enter the market via authorized distributors and build the sales network covering the whole country. Our presence at the Automotive Engineering Show was the first step to create brand awareness for LOTOS in the Indian market. Then through close cooperation with the distributors, we want to reach B2B customers such as car manufacturers, workshops, auto services, automotive shops, lubricants wholesalers, and many others.