Towards 0W-16 engine oil viscosity grade in Europe - German OEM fuel economy tests

The European market is moving towards ultra-low viscosity grade oils for passenger car engine applications in order to address the increasingly stringent fuel economy and CO2 emissions reduction requirements.
This paper reports a series of fuel economy test results obtained by running 0W-20 and 0W-16 passenger car engine oils on German original equipment manufacturer (OEM) fuel economy tests.
The data collected support the conclusion that the move to 0W-20 is already set to deliver further fuel economy benefits to the end user and that 0W-16 could potentially deliver further fuel economy benefits with existing European hardware technologies.
In real-world conditions, ultra-low viscosity engine oils need to balance fuel economy performance with engine protection, leading to increasingly complex formulating challenges. New technologies are needed to deliver on all fronts. However, this paper focuses on the fuel economy dimension of this complex matrix.