Intensifying Competition: Domestic Lubricant Brands Win the Market Through Brand Strength

As China's lubricant market gradually opened up, overseas lubricant companies poured in to grab a slice of this huge pie, and Chinese and foreign enterprises became locked in fierce head-on competition. In this contest, domestic lubricant brands represented by Kunlun have won market recognition on the strength of a solid brand image.
Chinese and Foreign Brands in Fierce Battle
In 1992, China's lubricant market began to open to the outside world — the earliest sector in China's petroleum and petrochemical market to do so — prompting foreign brands such as Shell, ExxonMobil, BP, Fuchs and Total to flood into China. In 2005, China's refined oil retail market was formally opened, and the oil majors stepped up their investment in the Chinese market, particularly in lubricants.
At the same time, China's sustained and rapid economic growth brought prosperity to the auto industry and directly drove a surge in demand for lubricant products. China has now overtaken Russia to become the world's second-largest lubricant consumer after the United States, with annual demand reaching 4 million tonnes — a figure that continues to climb as vehicle ownership rises.
Faced with enormous market demand, domestic and foreign companies have pulled out all the stops, from improving product performance, raising technological content and refining services to changing packaging, acquiring companies and building plants. Their strategies differ, but the ultimate goal is the same: to expand market share, especially in the highly profitable high-end segment.
Domestic Enterprises Win Through Branding
In this competition, domestic enterprises have come to understand that a brand symbolizes a company's overall strength, is an intangible asset and can deliver higher added value. To expand market share, brand building must be intensified.
Brand consolidation was an important step in the brand building of China's leading enterprises, and Kunlun was at the forefront of this effort. Kunlun's brand integration began in 2002 and concluded successfully in 2005, bringing all of PetroChina's lubricant operations under the Kunlun banner and ultimately forming Kunlun's "Tian" series. This powerfully strengthened Kunlun's brand image while giving each sub-brand a distinct market focus and improving the adaptability of Kunlun products.
Kunlun also rapidly raised the influence of the Kunlun brand through a series of marketing initiatives. In 2003, Kunlun bought out the advertising slot for the Shenzhou V mission and took the top spot in CCTV's advertising bidding. In 2004, Kunlun won the naming rights to CCTV's "Olympic Gold Medal Table" and became the designated oil for the icebreaker of the Antarctic scientific expedition. In 2006, it sponsored the China-ASEAN International Car Rally and supplied the designated oil. In 2007, it officially signed with the NBA's Houston Rockets, becoming an official partner of the team of Chinese player Yao Ming. Kunlun has also sponsored the "National Top Ten Good Samaritans Behind the Wheel" awards for five consecutive years. Through these brand-building actions, Kunlun quickly conveyed its caring philosophy and outstanding product performance to consumers, deepening their awareness of the brand. Kunlun's brand influence and market share rose sharply.
It is understood that through brand building, domestic brands have steadily increased their share of the market, especially the high-end segment, breaking the lubricant market's 80/20 rule, and consumer loyalty to domestic brands has risen substantially. Brands are becoming a decisive weapon for domestic enterprises in the market.