The Lubrizol Corporation announces it has completed the ACEA 2016 upgrade of its key European passenger car engine oil technologies ahead of schedule.

The ACEA oil sequences make up some of the lubricant industry`s most important performance standards. ACEA`s influence continues to grow beyond Europe, and the ACEA 2016 update released in December 2016 is an important step forward for the global lubricant industry. Vehicles manufactured by European automakers in 2016 represented up to 42% of new vehicle sales in China, and up to 33% of new vehicle sales in North and South America.

ACEA 2016 represents a significant upgrade for European passenger car engine oils, and includes new standards based on today`s automotive technology. ACEA 2016 brings increased focus on the growing use of biodiesel fuel, and it introduces two new tests to assess lubricant resistance to turbocharger and piston deposits in gasoline direct injection and turbocharged gasoline direct injection (T/GDI) engines. It also announces a new C5 category that delivers enhanced fuel economy performance for passenger car lubricants.

"We are pleased to have completed the ACEA 2016 upgrade across our range of European passenger car additive technologies, allowing our customers throughout the world to manage the upgrade of their lubricant product lines 18 months in advance of the December 2018 compulsory compliance window," said Colin Morton, Lubrizol regional business manager for Europe, Passenger Car Engine Oils.

Lubrizol stated that its extensive in-house testing capability and formulating expertise were key to getting new ACEA 2016 and C5 solutions to market early. Prior to the December release, Lubrizol engaged with the industry and testing work groups to anticipate market needs and to accelerate test upgrade activities across a range of technologies. Because of Lubrizol`s deep involvement in ACEA sequence development groups and with new tests installed internally,

Morton continues, " We are also pleased to introduce new ACEA 2016 C5 technologies to the market, and are already looking beyond ACEA 2016 to the future where low speed pre-ignition (LSPI) and chain wear performance are becoming increasingly important for European T/GDI engines."