quote:
Originally posted by avette:
You make it sound like the PAO's are still ruling the world and the GroupIII oils remaining a niche segment.
Isn't it the other way around?
The PAO based oils are increasingly becoming a niche product and only able to hold a significant market share because of Mobil1's still tremendous name recognition.
With the crude prices coming down like a rock and continued advancements in the hydrocracking technology, PAO based Mobil1 will just outprice itself out of the general market.
The writing is on the wall.
Crude prices "coming down like a rock?" When? for how long? The end of the summer driving season? LOL With all due respect avette, I'd like to know where all these cheapy Group III based synthetics are. The only one that comes to mind is the partial synthetic lines of Conoco-Philips (KendallGT1, Motorcraft, and perhaps TropArc).
Just looking over the five-quart jug of synthetics selection at Wal-Mart, I'd hardly call Castrol SYNTEC "cheaper" than Mobil1, in fact often the reverse seems to be true. Pennzoil Platinum (unless you get the rebate at PepBoys), QS, Valvoline, and Shell Rotella 5W-40 are only marginally less expensive. Even Rotella syn., which is often heralded as a cheap but quality synthetic here, will cost you roughly $16 for a four-qt jug, and an extra quart will cost you about $4.34. So, in reality, you're saving about $1 over Mobil1 which, is about $21+ a jug I think.
I've noticed that the opposite of what you say may be true, in fact, perhaps the overall rise in the price of crude has resulted in mineral based engine oils actually being more expensive overall, cutting into the profit margin of a reduced-priced Group IIIs, which again, I've seen limited evidence of. In fact, it seems like the GroupIIIs are the ones rising price wise.
I think that speaks a lot to - regarding ekpolk's post.
