Discovering LIQUI MOLY, Made In Germany!

Caroline Kidd talks to the experts at LIQUI MOLY to find out more about the difference premium quality motor oils and additives can make to your engine. We discover the brilliant rise of LIQUI MOLY, what it means to be ‘Made in Germany’, and the brand’s plans for the Irish market! 

When was the last time you thought about motor oil?

The first car I ever owned had a little bit of a drinking problem. To the point that I always carried a small bottle of oil in the boot for any emergency top ups should they be required.

I learnt early on that if the oil light comes on, you stop the car immediately, so critical is this lubricant to your engine. Because if you don’t, it could quickly become game over for your engine.

Next stop was the motor factors, where I discovered a bewildering array of motor oils and other automotive products. I was fascinated by the numbers on the bottles, the variety.

As a motoring journalist, I’ve spent so many hours behind the wheel driving the latest new models from the world’s leading car manufacturers, pondering the performance and efficiency of everything from hatchbacks and SUVs, to luxury and high-performance vehicles.

Speaking to the experts at LIQUI MOLY, I was delighted to find an equally diligent group of professionals at the forefront of the development and manufacture of motor oils and automotive chemicals: the ‘invisible’ products that keep your car running better for longer. Well, when was the last time you thought about motor oil?

The matching motor oil for every car in the world

Founded back in 1957, in Ulm, Germany, on the River Danube, LIQUI MOLY is one of the few full-range brands with around 4,000 automotive products to explore: the matching motor oil for every car in the world, additives, greases and pastes, sprays and car care, glues and sealants.

“Some of our products are crucial, simple as it is. Without oil, no combustion engine would run longer than a few kilometres,” says David Kaiser, Head of Research and Development at LIQUI MOLY.

Today it’s not about any lubricant for the engine like in the past, when a standard 10W-40 oil was good for most cars. David compares the oil in your car to a ‘fluid spare part’, which needs to fit precisely to a specific engine.

“If you use a modern low viscosity oil in a conventional engine not designed for this type of oil, you will see the results quickly because the engine suffers from massive wear and tear,” says David. In other cases, the oil may not be suited for the exhaust treatment system which leads to premature clogging of the particle filter and expensive repair bills.

You can find the right oil specification for your car in the owner’s manual or use LIQUI MOLY’s free online oil guide, where you can quickly find the right oil for your car using some simple search criteria like the make, model and engine.

Other after-market automotive products are less mandatory than motor oil but beneficial, as David explains: “If you use our oil additives, you protect your engine from wear and tear. If you use our fuel additives, you keep the combustion clean which improves exhaust gas values and reduces fuel consumption. If you use our car care products, you protect your car from corrosion. All this helps to improve the vehicle’s longevity, to preserve its present value and to reduce maintenance cost.”

New products are developed at LIQUI MOLY by working closely with garages and the car manufacturers. According to David this is how the R&D team learn quickly about upcoming issues, such as LSPI, low-speed pre-ignition.

“This is a phenomenon that we find especially in downsized engines, which may severely damage the pistons. We analysed the problem and developed an additive to suppress LSPI. This is just one example of how we develop new products.”

The experts at LIQUI MOLY continuously review existing products and look for ways to further improve them. For example, oils get additional or higher specifications, and additives become even more effective.

The R&D department at LIQUI MOLY is also responsible for monitoring the quality of production. This starts with incoming raw materials tested in the brand’s labs before they can be unloaded. “When we blend a new batch of oil, we test this batch before it gets to the filling line,” says David. “During the filling we take samples to check the quality. And we store these samples to be able to prove the quality even years after the actual production.”

So what does it mean to be ‘Made in Germany’?

As I began to learn more about this German oil brand – so full of passion and diligence for the application of their products in the automobile – I was amazed to discover that all oils and additives from LIQUI MOLY are still made in Germany before being distributed for sale in 150 countries around the world.

The brand focuses on premium quality and produces in Germany. They don’t want to be the cheapest; they want to be the best! This approach makes LIQUI MOLY different and is key to their quality promise. No matter whether you buy a LIQUI MOLY product off the shelf in Ireland, Germany, America, or some other region, you are ensured the same quality and consistency of the product.

“We do not produce lower quality versions of a product for export,” says Tim Keller, Export Area Manager at LIQUI MOLY and responsible for the Irish market. “With our own production facilities, we can ensure a constantly high-quality level. This made in Germany quality promise is strong, but it only works if you meet the expectations of car owners every day.”

Germany is of course famous around the world for the quality and precision of its manufacturing industry, including electronics, appliances, and of course cars, with the country home to some of the world’s most prestigious and desirable car brands like Porsche, Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz.

“Many people also like the idea that they use exactly the same products as the people in the car nation Germany do,” says Tim.

Improving LIQUI MOLY presence around the world…and Ireland

LIQUI MOLY is indeed a popular oil brand in its native Germany, elected best oil brand consistently in reader polls of major German car magazines like Auto Bild and Auto-Zeitung. But having a strong market position in Germany means that further growth is harder to achieve there than in other countries. Therefore, the brand pushes their international business.

Ireland is part of this strategy, where LIQUI MOLY products are already used by professional garages and are on sale for consumers to buy from many independent motor factors and online retailers specialising in aftermarket automotive products.

“Of course, Ireland is not the biggest market,” says Tim. “But often we see the situation that many competitors tend to focus on the biggest markets and tend to somewhat neglect smaller countries where we are quite successful.”

“We have big plans for Ireland. We will launch motor oils with the very latest specifications, and we will continuously expand our product portfolio that we offer in Ireland.”

LIQUI MOLY has a compelling history, a successful SME against much larger corporations like BP, Total and Shell. Tim likens LIQUI MOLY to a “speedboat manoeuvring around these huge sluggish tankers”. In fact, in 2020, despite the devastating effects of the pandemic on the global economy, the business managed to grow, increasing sales by 7.1%. A great achievement in these difficult times.

It’s testament to the diligence, optimism and enthusiasm of this company and its people. According to Tim Keller, the brand doubled their global marketing investments in 2020 compared to the previous year. While other businesses reduced head count, LIQUI MOLY responded by hiring more staff, increasing the global headcount from 933 to 989.

Powering motorsport and racing across the globe

High profile sponsorships also keep LIQUI MOLY visible on the world stage into 2021. LIQUI MOLY continues to believe in outstanding quality, the highest level of dynamics and pure emotion, making elite sports a natural companion to bring the brand’s message to the world. The brand sponsors a number of winter sports series around the globe for example, along with the two motorsport series with the greatest reach: Formula 1 and Moto GP. In fact, LIQUI MOLY is already the exclusive oil supplier to all teams of the Moto2 and Moto3 racing series.

Motorsports is a natural arena for the German brand because it is so closely related to the products the company manufactures, as Peter Baumann, Marketing Director at LIQUI MOLY, explains: “This allows us to get in touch with people all around the globe who are enthusiastic about engines and racing. The fact that all team in Moto2 and Moto3 use our oil is only possible when you can provide top quality. This allows us to demonstrate the quality of our products. What is proven on the racetrack does also a great job in everyday use.”

“Furthermore, the racing teams in Moto2 and Moto3 do not use a unique development just for them but one of our ordinary motorcycle oils,” continues David. “It is good enough to cope with the harsh requirements of a world championship.”

The future of LIQUI MOLY

So what might the future hold for this ambitious company? The environmental question must be tackled. And LIQUI MOLY is clearly a brand with a conscience, taking part in CSR programmes in its native Germany and other regions. Part of the brand’s mission is to treat energy and the ever-scarcer resources of Mother Earth very carefully, with manufacturing processes as environmentally friendly as possible and continually optimised from an ecological aspect.

While Ireland and Europe are now on the road to putting more electric vehicles on the road with some real intent at last, the latest European Automobile Manufacturer’s Association (ACEA) report still clearly shows over 2.1 million passenger cars in use in Ireland for example, and over 99% still powered by a combustion engine.

These cars require maintenance, motor oils and other automotive chemicals to keep them running at their best until end of life. Even as the fleet is gradually replaced with more battery electric vehicles, it’s going to take a while before we are talking about over 1 million electric cars on Irish roads.

But the world is changing, no doubt about it, with tighter environmental controls from national governments on cars with traditional combustion engines, and more incentives for consumers to buy electric vehicles. What might the future hold for a company specialising in selling oil, additives and other automotive chemicals for combustion engines?

Tim Keller, Export Area Manager at LIQUI MOLY and responsible for the Irish market says that the brand sees a strong push towards electric passenger cars. But most of these cars are not fully electric ones but hybrids, which still come with a combustion engine. He also notes that the average age of passenger cars in the EU is almost at 11 years.

“For these reasons it will take a long time until we see a significant share of fully electric passenger cars,” says Tim. “Then there are commercial vehicles, construction machines and so on which cannot be electrified right now.”

“Finally, the discussion about synthetic green fuels is accelerating right now. We will see combustion engines still for a long time. So electric vehicles will have an impact on our business model but only slowly and we will adapt our business model accordingly. Our wide range of automotive chemicals offers plenty of opportunities to us.”

With the performance of LIQUI MOLY to date, I do not doubt that this company will continue to innovate and continually respond to the needs of car owners around the world!

Caroline Kidd