Originally Posted By: y_p_w
I think Mobil started it with their complaints about Castrol USA's marketing of a group III base Syntec as "synthetic". They were trying to gain a marketing advantage. Maybe even at the time a group IV/V base oil produced a better product, but these days the technology has advanced to the point where I believe "synthetic" is just another buzzword that's placed on the label to get people to pay more. Now it may be a better product regardless of what's in it, but if it doesn't say "synthetic" on the label, few people would pay a premium for it.
Agreed.
How many people in the target market (aside from a few BITOG members) would know what it meant if it said "PAO" on the label? And of those few, how many would actually care? And of those few that cared, how many would be willing to pay more for it?
I think the days when you could run a successful marketing campaign and win a large market by saying that your oil is predominantly PAO are over. You would have to prove to the general public that such a product would make your engine last and that other products with less or no PAO would make your engine blow up. And we all know this is not true.
On top of it, oil base is just one of many pieces to the puzzle and does not a good oil make all by itself. No owner's manual will say "use PAO-based oil." PAO is not a spec. That's why engine manufacturers have invented performance specs to get away from the whole marketing game of mineral/synthetic/fake synthetic slogans. Here is the spec that you must meet. How you do it and what ingredients you use, we couldn't care less. And you as a consumer shouldn't care either, but that's just my opinion.
I think Mobil started it with their complaints about Castrol USA's marketing of a group III base Syntec as "synthetic". They were trying to gain a marketing advantage. Maybe even at the time a group IV/V base oil produced a better product, but these days the technology has advanced to the point where I believe "synthetic" is just another buzzword that's placed on the label to get people to pay more. Now it may be a better product regardless of what's in it, but if it doesn't say "synthetic" on the label, few people would pay a premium for it.
Agreed.
How many people in the target market (aside from a few BITOG members) would know what it meant if it said "PAO" on the label? And of those few, how many would actually care? And of those few that cared, how many would be willing to pay more for it?
I think the days when you could run a successful marketing campaign and win a large market by saying that your oil is predominantly PAO are over. You would have to prove to the general public that such a product would make your engine last and that other products with less or no PAO would make your engine blow up. And we all know this is not true.
On top of it, oil base is just one of many pieces to the puzzle and does not a good oil make all by itself. No owner's manual will say "use PAO-based oil." PAO is not a spec. That's why engine manufacturers have invented performance specs to get away from the whole marketing game of mineral/synthetic/fake synthetic slogans. Here is the spec that you must meet. How you do it and what ingredients you use, we couldn't care less. And you as a consumer shouldn't care either, but that's just my opinion.