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Carlos David Lülle Martinez-Villalba

COLOMBIA - Energy & Mining

Carlos David Lülle Martinez-Villalba

General Manager MOCA Region, Motul

Bio

Carlos David Lülle Martinez-Villalba has extensive experience in marketing and sales. He received his education from the University of Hamburg and La Sapienza University of Rome. His most important career is in the lubricants sector, as marketing manager at Petronas for the markets of Italy, Germany, and Austria. He is currently the General Manager of Motul Colombia, developing the potential of the French brand for Colombia, Ecuador, and Panama.

In line with Colombia's changing market needs, Motul is focused on diversifying its local product offering while ensuring the long-term sustainability of the company.

What is Motul’s focus of business, and what is its strategy to increase market presence?

Motul is heavily present in the racing arena and everything that has to do with performance on a global level, where we get to see the requirements of engines to improve performance and reduce the carbon footprint of our products without curbing engine performance. In Colombia and Latin America, we established a particular market. Worldwide, Motul is a company where 60-65% of sales are in segments other than motorcycles. In Colombia and Latin America, we see the opposite, where 85% of our market comprises motorcycles. Hence, we are trying to focus on other segments offering high-quality products to the market. Our motorcycle products are top performers with Ducati Pramac and Suzuki in Moto GP. Motul is also innovating its automobile lubricant division. We want to leverage our predominant position in the motorcycle market, and we see a high potential for growth in other sectors such as industry, power generation, oil and gas, four-wheel drive cars, passenger cars, and heavy-duty trucks. We are focused on delivering high-quality products of added value.

What is the company’s approach to partnerships, and why are they important to your brand identity?

Motul never enters partnerships or sponsorships solely for branding purposes. We always do so with technical considerations in mind so as to profit from an alliance through research and technology. Our alliance with Moto GP and Dakar has a specific purpose. Dakar is one of the most extreme competitions in the world of motorcycles, cars, and trucks, and Motul has to protect the engine during this rigorous race. We are pleased with the benefits of the publicity and growing post-race sales, but what is really interesting for us is the research that we do on the products that go into the engines in those races. Glickenhaus is one of the most interesting projects for Motul, because together with them we are creating the product that set to be used during the 24 hours of Les Mans, along with the construction of the engine itself.

What are the synergies between Motul Colombia and Motul Global, and how does Motul Colombia fit into the global strategy?

Our global strategy is to anticipate what comes next is the evolution of new engine types and mobility. We are focused on diversifying our product offering to the ever-changing market, and on linking Colombia to the global strategy. Given the prevalence of motorcycles in the country, the Colombian branch accounts for approximately 25% of Motul’s global sales geared toward motorcycles, which spells considerable profitability for the group. However, we need to diversify to guarantee the long-term sustainability of the company. We are trying to sell more products geared toward passenger cars, heavy duty vehicles, industry, oil and gas, and additives and chemicals for automotive care, to become more aligned with the global strategy, and less motorcycle dependent in this country.

How is Motul contributing to the business community and economic recovery of Colombia?

When the pandemic began it was important to cut investments in non-essential projects like marketing, and our key focus was to maintain people working from home and thinking about how we can provide solutions to the challenges of COVID-19. We aimed to protect the wellbeing of our employees, and this is what we are investing in. On a commercial level, we are contributing to the system of Colombia, as it has grown significantly because of the massive introduction of motorcycles in the country. In 10 years, the local market went from under 1 million motorcycles to 10 million today, which has given people the possibility to increase revenues by using them as working tools and improving the commute. Having products that will allow them to protect their work tool better, we feel, contributes to the economy. We are investing in Colombia and have grown the office by more than 300% over the past two years.

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