It would seem to me that Pennzoil would do well to market PU as an extended drain oil, as we've said here countless times. When gold bottle Edge first appeared, it was a dismal failure up here. Synthetic is expensive enough as it is. However, M1 EP has done reasonably well. PU did not last long on the shelves here at all. Then, when gold bottle Edge got the mileage guarantee featured prominently, it started to sell up here, and now it's all over the place, just like M1 EP. And we know that PU would be priced similarly to gold bottle Edge and M1 EP on the same shelves. Yet, we don't see the PU.
Pennzoil has done nothing to indicate that PU is a higher tiered product than PP, aside from raising the price. That's what's killing it. If I run M1 EP or gold bottle Edge in my G37, I'm warranted for 15,000 miles. I run PU, I'm warranted for 3,750 miles. Even vanilla M1 and black bottle Edge have a 10,000 mile warranty, at a few bucks cheaper. So, which would I choose?
I know full well that PP and PU (and QSUD and Formula Shell Synthetic) are very capable products. Everyone here knows that. But, for the general buying public, if you don't differentiate them from your conventionals, let alone each other, you're going to have problems. "Synthetic" on the label helps PP and QSUD, but PU just costing extra on top of those two isn't sufficient differentiation.