PETRONAS Launches AgriExpert Workshop Network, With First Site in Rio Grande do Sul

PETRONAS Lubricants International (PLI) has launched PETRONAS AgriExpert, a service network dedicated to agribusiness, with its worldwide debut in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The network is designed to support more than 140,000 independent agricultural workshops worldwide.

Brazil was selected as the debut market because of year-on-year growth in PETRONAS Arbor, the company's specialised lubricant line for farm machinery, and demand from independent workshops.

The model is franchise-style rather than volume-only. Participating workshops gain access to PLI technical expertise, advanced diagnostic tools, and specialised fluid solutions developed for agricultural equipment. That structure ties lubricant sales to a branded service relationship with the mechanic who touches the machine.

Agro FR/Mecanica do Joao, based in Marau, is the first partner workshop in the global launch. It was identified by SIM Lubrificante RS, PLI's licensed distributor in the region, and chosen as the first AgriExpert service point in the world.

"We are honoured that PETRONAS Lubricants International chose our workshop for this important milestone," said Vanderson Reginato, owner of Agro FR/Mecanica do Joao. Reginato also said he expects to grow his business with SIM Lubrificantes RS.

Rogerio Ludorf, PLI's Americas CEO, said the launch of AgriExpert is a further step in strengthening the company's specialised services ecosystem. He added that opening the first AgriExpert centre in Brazil reflects both the strength of that market and its strategic importance to PLI's continued global growth.

The agricultural network sits on top of an existing branded workshop footprint. In Brazil, PLI already runs more than 300 AutoExpert centres for passenger vehicles and close to 50 MotoExpert centres for two-wheelers. It recently opened its first TruckExpert centre, in Guaiba.

The Brazilian supply base behind those networks is substantial. PETRONAS Lubrificantes Brasil operates a plant in Contagem, Minas Gerais, with production capacity of 220 million litres per year. Distribution runs through centres in Contagem, Curitiba, Recife and Sao Paulo.

PLI was founded in 2008 and manufactures and markets automotive and industrial lubricants across more than 100 international markets, with headquarters in Kuala Lumpur. The company also has offices in Turin, Belo Horizonte, Beijing and Chicago, and supplies Fluid Technology Solutions to the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula 1 team.

For a lubricants business, the segmentation across passenger cars, motorcycles, trucks and now farm machinery is the commercial point: each vehicle class carries different fluid specifications and different service intervals, and each branded network captures the workshop that specifies them. AgriExpert extends that logic from urban service bays to the machinery fleets of one of Brazil's leading agricultural states.

The announcement was published on August 21, 2026, by Portal Petrus in its lubricants section, and the same day at 15h18 by Voz do Bairro and Bebedouro News in its economy section, both distributed via saladanoticia.com.br.