Exxon Mobil keen on higher market share

Exxon Mobil Lubricants India, part of the $370 billion Exxon Mobil, is adopting an aggressive strategy to tap Indian automotive OEMs in a big way. The eventual objective is to increase its market share in the Indian lube business to ten percent from three percent presently. The company recently launched a new product for Tata Motors’ petrol range of cars called Mobil Super XHP 10W-40. It has a drain interval of 15,000 km or 12 months (whichever is earlier) as against the earlier drain interval of 10000 km or six months.

Zarko Pavlovic, chief executive officer, said that trials were on for the Tata commercial vehicles too. The company also supplies products to Toyota in India that are used for factory fill and not for the aftermarket and service fill. It is now trying to see how it can work for Toyota in the aftermarket. Products are also being supplied to a large number of Ford and Skoda dealers as well as Bajaj Auto and TVS Motor dealerships. “We also work closely with Caterpillar and Volvo construction in India. It was only recently that Exxon Mobil began marketing lubricants on its own in India,” said Naveen Shukla, marketing advisor, Asia Pacific Automotive Lubricants.

Exxon entered India post-Independence as Esso. It had its own fuel stations which sold lubes, kerosene and petroleum products. In 1974, post- nationalisation, multinationals had to leave India. With the onset of reforms, Mobil joined hands with IndianOil and Esso entered into an alliance with Hindustan Petroleum. By the late 1990s Mobil broke away from IOC and Esso started an independent company. After 2001-2, Exxon and Mobil merged.

“Globally, we have a strong relationship with OEMs and in the auto segment, we have tieups with Daimler, Porsche, Audi, Volkswagen, Toyota etc. All of them are partners and either endorse our products or have private label products. In commercial vehicles, we work with Daimler, Caterpillar, Volvo, MAN, Renault, Daewoo etc,” Shukla said.

According to Pavlovic, in within countries where there are strong national companies, Exxon targets 15 percent market share while this will be confined to ten percent in the case of India. He believes that the company has around 1,000 different products for various applications and within the auto segment, this number could be closer to 400. “In the auto sector, we are working towards becoming close associates with car dealers. We believe that is our global strength and are applying that in India too. Our aim is to grow significantly within the car segment,” Pavlovic said.