The history of ACEA

It's well known that Europe and the USA have always been the unquestioned leaders of the automobile market by volume. That's always been the case. And at every point in time, cars built for these two markets had specific differences and features that could always tell a car made for the American market apart from an otherwise identical one made for Europe. And it's not just about the license-plate mounts, which differ in size between the USA and European countries, or even about the speedometers and odometers, which measure miles in the USA and kilometres in Europe.

The difference always ran deeper: traffic law requirements were factored in too — for example, US requirements for a car's exterior lighting differ from European ones. On top of that, the USA has a somewhat different mindset, which significantly shapes the trim-and-equipment policy for cars supplied there.

At a certain point, legal requirements for vehicle environmental safety in the USA and Europe also started to diverge significantly, which required, among other things, different approaches to engine design. And different designs and/or the materials used in production inevitably mean different requirements for the chemical composition and quality of engine oil.

It was for exactly this reason that, at a certain stage, the quality standards of the purely American API organisation stopped satisfying European car manufacturers, and they joined forces into the Committee of Common Market Automobile Constructors, CCMC (1972). Already by 1975 this committee had published its first quality requirements for engine oils intended for cars sold on European markets.