Ideal First Choice will increase its lubricant market share to around 15 percent within three years and thereafter be a leading player in the industry, Ideal Group Chairman Nalin Welgama told a gathering in Colombo to introduce Gulf Oil lubricants to the local market on Tuesday.
“We are confident of reaching a market share of over six percent from the very outset in a highly competitive market,” said Welgama, banking on the partnership with Gulf Oil, a globally renowned brand. However, First Choice officials acknowledged the hurdle in getting down the product owing to the dollar crisis in the country has put the brakes on imports. “There will be some delay in opening LCs but we are optimistic the snag would be history and the country would be back in business soon,” Welgama said, adding that the world is fast moving from Internal Combustion Engines (ICE) to Electric Vehicles (EVs) for which Sri Lanka has about a decade to prepare for the transition.
A senior official of Ideal First Choice said there was no need to flood the market as the country has close to 8.5 million registered vehicles as against the number of households in response to the ban on vehicle imports.
It is time the automobile industry gets into assembling, value addition and exports rather being stuck to imports, Ideal First Choice and Ideal Motors Director Chaminda Wanigaratne said “We are pleased to announce the appointment of Ideal First Choice as the distributor for Gulf Oil in Sri Lanka. We look forward to providing a unique lubricant brand to the market,” Wanigaratne, said.
The brand will cater to all vehicles including motorcycles, three-wheelers and vans, in addition to industrial requirements through its island wide dealers.
President, APAC, Gulf Oil and MD and CEO, Gulf Oil Lubricants India Ltd., Ravi Chawla said, “We are delighted to have partnered with Ideal First Choice as the national distributor in Sri Lanka. The country consumes about 64,000 kilo liters of lubricants annually. 68% of this is used for automobiles and the remainder for industrial lubricants and grease.”