Omer Dormen, Sales Director of Castrol (region Russia, CIS, Turkey and the countries of northern Europe)
Omer Dormen, Sales Director of Castrol (region Russia, CIS, Turkey and the countries of northern Europe). Omer Dormen, Sales Director of Castrol (region Russia, CIS, Turkey and the countries of northern Europe). Omer Dormen, Director of Castrol (region Russia, CIS, Turkey and the countries of northern Europe).
Mr. Dormen, progress is moving forward. How does the policy of oil companies change in this connection?
- Of course, we look closely with great interest in all modern trends in the development of the auto industry. We see that now the direction of hybrid cars is actively developing. But even with the development of all new trends, we see that in the future, machines will still mainly use internal combustion engines.
Over the next 10–15 years, the number of hybrids worldwide will not exceed 10% of the total fleet. And, of course, the good news is that even hybrids need lubricants. We also do not expect electric vehicles to play a prominent role in the growth of industry in the coming years.
At the same time, we have projects aimed at the future. They should help us understand how striving to improve the environment will change the market and how technology will change in this regard. Thus, we can be on the first line of events in the automotive industry. In our company, this project is called Castrol-2020.
Are you going to build production facilities in Russia? Maybe refineries for waste oil?
- Processing plants … Unfortunately, no. But in Russia, as we know, there are many production capacities and many oil refineries. Therefore, we are rather looking at partners in this area. Since we know that the oil refining industry is currently undergoing a modernization phase, many Russian companies are investing in this sector to improve the quality of their lubricants. As a global company, we want to be one of the “reasons” for the country's economic growth.
How do the recent economic changes in Europe and in the world as a whole affect your work?
- Over the past few years, we have been paying particular attention to the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China. - Ed.), Since the main market growth comes from these regions. Against the background of the deteriorating economic situation in Europe, this decision looks even more correct. Indeed, over the past five years, mature Western European markets have exhausted their growth potential.
At the same time, Europe still remains a significant source of our income. In Italy, Germany and England, Castrol's market share is very high. Interestingly, in Greece, where there is a lot of economic turmoil now, from the point of view of Castrol's business, we are seeing growth.
Leonid Kobrin, Castrol Russia Sales Director
Leonid Kobrin, Castrol Russia Sales Director Leonid Kobrin, Castrol Russia Sales Director Leonid Kobrin, Castrol Russia CEO
We address local issues to Leonid Kobrin, Castrol Russia CEO:
What is your strategy for 2013, what new products will appear under the Castrol brand in our market?
- Last year, 2012, we developed and approved a new five-year strategy. We know exactly how we will develop, and we understand which products we will sell. In 2012, we completely updated the entire Magnatec series. As for the next five years, we see a serious development of the market for independent car services. This is one direction where we will develop, introduce our experience with authorized stations. A great direction for us is the sale of oils for commercial vehicles. Until recently, we believed that this sector was out of focus, let’s say, for certain reasons.
We will continue to work with authorized services, with our strategic partners. We work with almost all dealers, such as, for example, Audi, Volkswagen, Land Rover, BMW, Ford and others. Here the task will be more likely to hold on than to capture something new, so we will grow together with partners. Naturally, the organization will develop as such - at a minimum, we plan to double our business.
Correct me if I am mistaken, my colleagues told me that you have a system for accrediting your partners. How it works?
- Good question. Here, probably, it is necessary to explain how the business in Russia is organized in principle. There is a company that is the official exclusive representative of Castrol in Russia. To make it clear: this company is a 100% subsidiary of BP. This is a direct business. And there is a business that we conduct through distributors: retail products and products for commercial vehicles.
And here in this segment there is a historically proven accreditation procedure for our partners. We now have about 30 distributors throughout the country. Of these, 95 percent are companies that have been working with us for more than 10 years. As part of our development strategy, we have developed the exercise “The Way to the Market”, and now we will once again have to re-evaluate the existing companies. In general, our system is quite stable and works well.
Not so long ago, my colleagues came to a dealer center for a service oil change. And there it turned out that after all the procedures, the specialists did not change the oil, but at the same time they convinced the opposite. But many people do not even check whether everything is done correctly, because they generally have a poor idea of what is under their hood. What do you do with such partners if you get negative feedback from car owners?
- To begin with, there has never been such feedback among our partners. I hope that will not be. I repeat, we conduct direct business only with authorized dealers. And in this sense, we rely on the checks that each car dealership conducts when it authorizes the station. Therefore, I have not heard about such nuances, about official dealers, although, probably, anything is possible. As for the unauthorized stations where our distributors work, the question of trust is a key issue. Especially when we are talking about changing the oil, at the station, where, as a rule, oil is poured from a barrel. Here, distributors have recommendations from us and specific rules of work. And we really try to check partners. And, before starting cooperation, we study the reputation of this service point in the market.
