Large Population of ICE Vehicles Keeps Lubricant Sector Promising

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – The development of electric vehicles, including electric cars and motorcycles, is expected to continue increasing in the coming years.

Nevertheless, the lubricant business in Indonesia is deemed to have promising prospects.

This is inseparable from the motor vehicle population which remains very large, especially motorcycles with conventional engines, known as “cetus api” that still dominate the roads.

“But a correction, because it is like this, in lubricants there is a development of technology long drain interval longer over time with use, the use of kibetik, which might, in our fathers’ era, require a change every 3,000 km. Now it can be 5,000, 10,000, or even 15,000 km,” he said in Jakarta, Wednesday, 4 March 2026.

Nugroho explained that oil-change intervals are now longer because the quality of lubricants is improving. Although the high number of vehicles still makes lubricant demand large.

“But in terms of population, our vehicle population is still quite extraordinary. Total, if I’m not mistaken, the data we have, total vehicle population, motorcycles, buses, and passenger vehicles, is around 150 million (units), 120 million of which are motorcycles,” he said.

He added that companies continue to conduct periodic evaluations and analyses to assess the development of the domestic lubricant market.

“These factors are the ones that, every year, we will certainly conduct further evaluation and analysis,” he said.

Various factors are considered, from developments in vehicle technology, to the growth of the vehicle population, to the characteristics of vehicle use in each region.

According to Nugroho, the condition of Indonesia’s automotive market is highly dynamic, necessitating constant monitoring.

“It could be that factor A applies in region A, factor B does not apply. We still see. It is very dynamic, very dynamic when we look at how we conduct evaluation,” he said.