The name Repsol is no stranger to the biking community and to those who follow MotoGP. I have to admit that I haven’t been following the premier bike series for a long time, but I fondly remember my favorite rider Mick Doohan battling it out with the likes of Wayne Rainey and Kevin Schwantz. The Aussie rode a Repsol Honda, the same team that just powered Casey Stoner to the 2011 MotoGP title.
Well, for those scratching their heads, Repsol is an oil and gas company from Spain with principal operations in Latin America, Middle East and North Africa. The brand is market leader in its home market and Argentina, and is quite big in South America. It operates in 30 countries and its products are available in 60 nations across the globe.
Repsol is now officially available in Malaysia courtesy of UMW Lubricants International (ULI). The principal agency agreement with Repsol was signed in November last year at the Valencia MotoGP race. Since its introduction here in June 2011, ULI has imported over 530 tonnes of lubricant oil for passenger vehicles, motorcycles and diesel engines.
ULI will start blending lubes according to Repsol specs at its Shah Alam plant from January 2012. The manufacturing of Repsol branded products has also begun at Lubritech’s plant in Guangdong, China. Lubritech is part of the UMW Group. Sales of Repsol lubes are expected to reach 20,000 tonnes per year within Malaysia and China by 2015. Locally, ULI is hoping to capture at least 3% market share bu end 2012. Promo activities will start from this weekend’s MotoGP race at Sepang.
UMW also handles the Pennzoil lubricant brand in Malaysia. Repsol wants to be positioned above the American brand.
“We would like to position Repsol as a premium quality lubricant. Given its long time association with MotoGP, we are going to aggressively promote Repsol products for the passenger vehicle market. We will appoint nationwide distributors and dealers, and target to have more than 200 outlets by the end of 2011,” said Datuk Syed Hisham Syed Wazir, President and Group CEO of UMW Holdings Berhad.