Polish consumers rated Valvoline as the best brand of motor oil in 2019, followed by Motul and Liqui Moly, according to a Polish independent automotive publication.
The American brand Valvoline climbed from second place in 2018 to the top spot in Drivers Choices annual survey of drivers favorite engine oil brands, with a 78 percent customer satisfaction rating, just 0.1 percent above Motul. Valvoline had a 77.2 percent satisfaction score in 2018.
The ranking is based on a survey of 152,000 respondents in seven categories, including best car brand reliability, best authorized service stations, best car cosmetic products and best car tire. The latest ranking was released in December.
Motul, a French brand, lost its top spot from last years survey, dropping 0.2 percent in customer satisfaction. Third place German brand Liqui Moly retained its spot from the previous year with a small bump to its overall score.
Polish motorists ranked Malaysias Petronas fourth, followed by Total and ExxonMobils Mobil-branded motor oils, all of which remained the same rank as 2018.
Next was Castrol, which moved up one spot amid a 3.5 percent increase to its score, and Millers Oil which also bumped up its ranking by one spot and increased its score by 2.5 percent. Ninth and tenth place in the ranking belonged to Shell, which dropped two places from last year, and Elf, with no changes compared to last year.
The most prominent automotive and industrial lubricant suppliers in Poland are domestic players Orlen Oil and Lotos Oil, along with Klueber Lubrication, Nynas and Oemeta.
Both Lotus Oil and Orlen Oil supply about 50 percent of the Polish lubricants demand [combined], while German Fuchs is particularly strong in the Polish metalworking fluids market, where we estimate it holds 30 percent of the supply, Sharbel Luzuriaga, project manager at consultancy Kline & Co., told Lube Report. Luzuriaga is based in Klines European headquarters in Prague.
Fuchs in particular has increased its market share significantly in Poland in the past few years. The expansion of this company here, especially in the countrys industrial lubricant segment, results from the fact that the company took over Statoil, which was previously a market leader, he said.