ACEA members

Today, ACEA's members include the following car manufacturers: Daimler-Chrysler — Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volkswagen-Audi, Porsche, Volvo, Rolls-Royce, Rover, Ford-Europe, GM-Europe, Renault, SAAB-Scania, Fiat, RVI, Iveco, MAN, DAF.

Impressive list, isn't it? Modern European engine oil quality requirements are drawn up precisely on the basis of these companies' requirements. And, ironic as it sounds, the vast majority of them, alongside taking part in developing new ACEA classification categories, also draw up their own separate requirements — manufacturer approvals for engine oils.

Why does this happen? Mainly because the technology differs from one manufacturer to the next, so it isn't possible to reduce every requirement on additive content and chemical composition in engine oil to a single common standard. As a result, most, say, Japanese car manufacturers rely, as a recommendation on oil quality, on the ACEA classification (for the European market) or the API classification (for the American market), while the authors of that classification also issue their own additional requirements, refining and strengthening the base ACEA ones.