The best lubrication, period

Article, 31 October 2014

"Our automotive manufacturer clients constantly expect more and more of our products,” says the head of R&D at lubricant manufacturer Deutsche Pentosin-Werke GmbH, Dr. Edgar Steigerwald. “Thanks to our collaboration with Neste Oil, we’ve been able to rise to these challenges, which has helped cement our position in this highly competitive market."

Pentosin manufactures engine and transmission oils for a number of prominent manufacturers, such as Audi, Bugatti, Mercedes-Benz, McLaren, Porsche, and Volkswagen. Pentosin products are also used in custom-built sports cars. Many models are filled up with Pentosin lubricants before leaving the factory.

Pentosin uses Neste Oil's Group III base oils as the starting-point for its lubricants. The close cooperation between Pentosin and Neste Oil dates back to the early 1990s, when Neste Oil began investing heavily in top-tier base oils and Pentosin, already a market leader in high-performance lubricants, was looking for a strong technology partner.

Pentosin is the leading manufacturer of dual clutch transmission lubricants. Dual clutches are central to the direct-shift gearboxes (DSG) fitted to Volkswagen Golfs, and combine the benefits of automatic and manual transmission, resulting in what is widely seen as today’s leading gearbox technology.

The partnership between Pentosin and Neste Oil depends on the excellent quality of Neste Oil’s products and the dependability of their deliveries.

"Our long-standing cooperation guarantees us access to premium-quality Group III base oils at stable prices compared to synthetic base oils such as PAO. We can rely on Neste Oil supplying us with their high quality Group III base oils even when there’s a shortage of these products on the market. This is important for us, as it helps guarantee the continuity of our business and means that we don’t encounter problems supplying our customers," explains Dr. Steigerwald.

The combination of excellent low-temperature performance and the other technical characteristics of Neste Oil's Group III base oils make them standout products, he says.

"Our customers value the fact that we’re able to deliver top-class lubricants at a price that’s competitive with those based on synthetic base oils."

Extending collaboration into new segments

Neste Oil cooperates with major additive companies to develop ready-to-use formulations, primarily for cars and trucks and other heavy vehicles, with a wide range of OEM approvals.

The idea here is to support industrial customers, help automotive-driven customers expand into new segments, and showcase the capabilities of NB3080 in this area.

Having done the basic development work, Neste Oil needed a partner to test the formulation in the field. Pentosin was looking to develop its own industrial segment offering, so extending the two companies’ existing collaboration felt right for both partners. Working with Neste Oil, Pentosin is now testing the new formulation in the field with good results.

Neste Oil and Pentosin are also working together on bringing their expertise to new markets, such as China and Japan. The two companies have already developed lubricants for GT-R sports cars, for example, as well as transmission oils for Volkswagen hybrid engines.

Given everything that has been achieved so far, Neste Oil's top-tier base oils look well-set to remain the foundation for Pentosin's products into the future.

"Homogenous high-quality base oil like that supplied by Neste Oil offers our additive manufacturer partners a good foundation for developing the best additive kits for our specialty products," says Dr. Steigerwald.