COVER
FEATURE
Lubricants in Africa:
a market and technology
perspective
By Darrell Taylor
Taylor has a background in European
motorcycle product development
for Yamaha Motor Group and for
Triumph Motorcycles.He is now a
marketing manager for Lubrizol
corporation.
20
I
t’s no surprise that the automotive
sector of emerging markets in Africa
vary greatly from the more developed
regions of the world. In terms of car
ownership, it has been observed that only 2
percent of the population own a car, which
compared to other countries and continents
falls below global averages. For example, 40
percent of the population in Japan own a car,
in Europe 48 percent of the population own a
car and in the USA nearly three quarters of the
population (74 percent) own a car.
Although Africa’s rate of 2 percent vehicle
ownership appears small, it translates to a large
car parc, especially when considering that
Africa has a population of nearly 15 percent
of the entire world’s population. With around
one billion people living in Africa currently
(a figure set to rise to two billion by 2050).
Africa’s passenger car vehicle parc thought to
be approximately 20,000,000 vehicles.
In addition, there is an entire network and
infrastructure of commercial vehicles that
transport goods and people throughout Africa
— a continent covering more than 30 million
square kilometres, approximately 20.3 percent
of the world’s land mass.
September 2015 • | Lubezine Magazine