The long haul
Grantt lubricants is a new player in the market but they have aggressive plans to make a name for themselves.
GRANTT lubricants made its entry about two years ago in Malaysia and introduced a whole range of Passenger Car Motor Oil (PCMO), Motorcycle Oil (MCO), Diesel Engine Oil (DEO), Auto Transmission Fluid (ATF), Industrial Oil and Grease.
These products are manufactured by UMW Grantt International Sdn Bhd (UMWG), a wholly-owned subsidiary in the UMW Group, and its lubricants are fully blended at UMW’s ISO 9001:2008-certified plant in Shah Alam, Selangor.
The PCMO range is called Stellar, while the MCO and DEO range are known as Quadra and Quasar respectively.
These are available in fully-synthetic, semi-synthetic and mineral oil formulations, all tested to meet the American Petroleum Institute’s API-SN requirements as well as the European Automobile Manufacturers Association ACEA A3/B4 standard.
Besides Grantt, UMW also markets Pennzoil and Repsol products.
While Grantt is in its infancy, it is already making strides towards longevity, brand recognition and making a mark not just locally but internationally as well.
CarSifu sat down with UMW Corporation Sdn Bhd president, manufacturing and engineering division, Megat Shahrul Azmir, who is in charge of taking Grantt to new heights. We began by asking Megat about its sales target.
“We couldn’t ask for more. It’s been a really ‘stellar’ development (laughs). We’ve met and achieved and exceeded all of our expectations and internal targets.
“In fact, as of year to date (October 2016), our sales are one and a half times more than last year’s target. So it’s growing very well per our plan, that’s what’s important. Because you don’t want to grow out of control then ‘interesting’ things happen.”
Is there a figure you are targetting?
“In the next four years or so, we plan to breach the RM100mil revenue which is small compared to other bigger brands but it’s big for us because we just launched in January 2015. So four years from now, we will only be six years old so it’s not too bad a target.”
And what is Grantt’s best-selling product?
“Quasar is very sellable. For some reason, it’s selling very well in the northern and southern region as well as Sabah and Sarawak. That said, all the other ranges are selling very well for a two-year-old company.”
Marketing the brand is an area where Grantt will be heavily pursuing next year.
“For 2017, we are going to spend much more money promoting Grantt. Because lubricants is a game of eyeballs - a lot more people see it, a lot more people buy it.
“Last year we started promoting and sponsoring the Borneo Safari International Offroad Challenge and we are continuing it this year as well.
“We have also started our Chinese New Year promotion for next year.”
Grantt is the performance partner for the Borneo Safari International Offroad Challenge which began last weekend in Sabah from Oct 30 to Nov 6 and is the official co-sponsor of the Malaysian Rally Championship which saw Round 3 take place at Johor Baru on Oct 28-30, 2016.
Grantt is alo the Team Sponsor for GT Racing at the upcoming Macau Grand Prix from Nov 17-20, 2016.
Grantt is already making its presence felt around the South East Asian region and Asia Pacific.
“We are already in Cambodia, Brunei and Singapore. By end of this year, we are going to be in Myanmar. In the next few years, it’s all about getting big in Indonesia, Vietnam and Laos. And that’s just phase one.
“We are going to expand that footprint into Asia Pacific. In fact, this November we are going to have our Macau Grand Prix launch and clearly, the next one is China.”
With its expansion plan, does it have the ability to meet the demand?
“In total, we can produce 110 to 120 million litres a year. So when the market demands it, we can revert very, very fast.”
If Megat sounds confident about Grantt, it is because he is.
“We guarantee our quality. We’ve been working with all the key principles like Repsol and Pennzoil and these guys audit our plants all the time - scheduled and unscheduled - so all these stringent process are built in and what you have in front of you are these quality products.”
Finally, what sort of market share is Grantt looking at?
“Market share honestly, it’s quite low. It’s a new brand, just two years old. In four years time, we may have about 3-5% market share. It’s quite an achievement for a six-year old company. Rest assured this brand is going to be here for a long,g, long g time.”