The global automotive market is about to face one of the toughest challenges in its history: the arrival and implementation of China 6, a new national standard aimed at dramatically cutting emissions from the country’s passenger cars and commercial vehicles.
Effective January 1, 2021, all light-duty vehicles will be required to meet the China 6a standards. Heavy-duty vehicles will be subject to stringent China VIa standards from July 2021, and lubricant providers must be prepared. The measures taken as part of China 6’s implementation will remove many thousands of tons of serious pollutants, including particulate matter (PM) and oxides of nitrogen (NOx) from the country’s air. Further, the emissions standard is being combined with new fuel economy legislation that applies to both passenger cars and commercial vehicles, requiring Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to hit increasingly high fuel economy targets all while dramatically reducing emissions.
The right lubricants for China 6-compliant vehicles must demonstrate an entirely new range of performance benefits, and that will require close collaboration between OEMs, oil marketers and additive companies to succeed.