I've noticed that kind of pricing on Champ filters too. Whether it's Rock Auto's sub-$2 pricing, or from other sellers that price higher but offer "free shipping," mid-$30s for a case of 12 is easy to find. From what I've seen on this forum, the Champ-branded filters are at least as good as other-branded Champion Labs filters in the retail channel, so why are they so much cheaper?Interesting thing is, Champion Labs is still building their designs (Ecore, combo valves,etc.) and Fram is still building theirs. I’ve been tempted to use the Champ made Ecore VO-88/PH48 combo valve filter in my Express since they seem to flow really well, and I could use a little more oil pressure. Sub $2 at Rock Auto too, a case of 12 is under $35 shipped w/tax.
Maybe this is what Champion Labs does with any excess production capacity after they've filled their OEM orders; just keep production rolling and turn out Champ filters to sell to jobbers at low (or zero) markup, rather than idle their plants and lose the economies of scale that come with higher production.
If that's so, then those of us who buy them for personal use at those prices are beneficiaries of that quirk in production economics. Rare that those benefits would trickle down to actual consumers.