castrol 0w30- (cg) new formula made in usa

[redhorse554]

some news from the sema show. had the opportunity
to chat with mr frekin,castrol marketing wizz in their booth with john force,who had his fans lined
up long.he was great with his fans!.mr frekin was well aware of cg's interest. castrol is 'reviewing' NOW future plans on/if to start manufacture in the US.he said they have the materials to do it.it would start with a copac deal and then produce 0w30 in house.no time table...the Q booth had three new oils.
full race oils..0w5 17.5w35(?)yes! and a 15w50
stated on the bottle:"not for street use" and
"made from select POA synthetic base oils". side by side with their street synthetic's and talked
they are gp.lll stocks.nothing new at mobil 1 booth..back castrol,the only sae grades that were not displayed 0w30 and 5w40..

 

[pitzel]

Interesting, because its not like Castrol has done anything explicitly to market their made-in-Germany 0W30 product. And surely Bobistheoilguy forum users aren't a big enough 'force' to actually make that much of a difference in terms of purchasing. So it must have quite a grassroots following.

The big question is whether or not the average 'joe' that buys this oil actually cares about whether it is made in Germany or not, and whether Castrol could truly resist the temptation to use lower-quality/cheaper components to manufacture this oil in North America. I know, here in Canada, GC is pretty much the only name-brand 0W30 oil that can be found on store shelves, so that alone would be responsible for generating quite a lot of sales. Its also expen$ive, around $8-$9/quart, and as any marketing genius will tell you, pricing a product higher than the competition is often a way to differentiate your brand, even though a particular brand may not be in any way superior to the competition -- people will buy the higher priced stuff simply because they honestly believe they are buying a 'better' product for their cars.

 

[Ugly3]

quote:

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Originally posted by pitzel:
Its also expen$ive, around $8-$9/quart, and as any marketing genius will tell you, pricing a product higher than the competition is often a way to differentiate your brand, even though a particular brand may not be in any way superior to the competition -- people will buy the higher priced stuff simply because they honestly believe they are buying a 'better' product for their cars.

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Truer words were never spoken.

 

[Audi Junkie]

quote:

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17.5w-35

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??? Does this designation actually exist? I thought the ".5" and "X5w" were just made-up because SAE literature and all those tests refer to 5w-X0 and 10w-X0 etc...???

 

[ekpolk]

quote:

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Originally posted by Ugly3:

quote:

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Originally posted by pitzel:
Its also expen$ive, around $8-$9/quart, and as any marketing genius will tell you, pricing a product higher than the competition is often a way to differentiate your brand, even though a particular brand may not be in any way superior to the competition -- people will buy the higher priced stuff simply because they honestly believe they are buying a 'better' product for their cars.

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Truer words were never spoken.

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Maybe in the Canadian context. Keep in mind, however, that GC is marginally less expensive than M1 in the local AZ stores when at normal prices, but more often than not, there's a special that really brings GC's price down. I would roughly guestimate that I've paid an average of $3.90 for the ninety-something quarts I've hoarded. That's about a dollar less expensive than M1.

 

[Patman]

quote:

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Originally posted by pitzel:
Its also expen$ive, around $8-$9/quart

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It's never been priced that high up here! It has been $6.66 a liter at Walmart for the past year and a half, only recently did it go up to $7.12. At Canadian Tire it was $6.99 but now it's up to about $7.50.

 

[MMX]

quote:

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Originally posted by Patman:

quote:

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Originally posted by pitzel:
Its also expen$ive, around $8-$9/quart

---

It's never been priced that high up here! It has been $6.66 a liter at Walmart for the past year and a half, only recently did it go up to $7.12. At Canadian Tire it was $6.99 but now it's up to about $7.50.

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Yes, I can attest to that.
I paid $6.99 for 25 "1L" at Canadian Tire last month & $7.12 for 12 "1L" at Walmart last week.

 

[buster]

Are these other oils you mentioned going to be for sale at the retail level?

 

[jsharp]

quote:

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Originally posted by redhorse554:
some news from the sema show. had the opportunity
to chat with mr frekin,castrol marketing wizz in their booth with john force,who had his fans lined
up long.he was great with his fans!.mr frekin was well aware of cg's interest. castrol is 'reviewing' NOW future plans on/if to start manufacture in the US.he said they have the materials to do it.it would start with a copac deal and then produce 0w30 in house.no time table...the Q booth had three new oils.
full race oils..0w5 17.5w35(?)yes! and a 15w50
stated on the bottle:"not for street use" and
"made from select POA synthetic base oils". side by side with their street synthetic's and talked
they are gp.lll stocks.nothing new at mobil 1 booth..back castrol,the only sae grades that were not displayed 0w30 and 5w40..

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I don't get the statement "castrol is 'reviewing' NOW future plans on/if to start manufacture in the US."

What's the explanation for the reports of a GC like oil with the same ratings that say Made in USA on the bottle?

 

[Gary Allan]

quote:

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And surely Bobistheoilguy forum users aren't a big enough 'force' to actually make that much of a difference in terms of purchasing.

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Don't be too sure. I went to my local K-Mart and found serveral bottles "turned around". There's no other BITOG member in my area in the listed membership that I don't converse with back channel. It wasn't them. I imagine that many of the members here have let their "loose lips sink ships" internet wide. It wouldn't surprise me that all the cross talk on this product in the alternate boards that all the proponents of GC has established a static "run" on the product on every shelf nation wide. Virtually every member goes out and buys every available quart when he finds it and that assumes that a member is the one who got there first.

 

[Blue99]

quote:

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17.5w35

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This is simply gibberish. The SAE J300 viscosity grades are ranges and "in-betweens' or ".5's" do not exist.

Is this intended to be a description for a new multi-weight, a heavy 15W-30?

 

[Last_Z]

quote:

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Originally posted by ekpolk:

quote:

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Originally posted by Ugly3:

quote:

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Originally posted by pitzel:
Its also expen$ive, around $8-$9/quart, and as any marketing genius will tell you, pricing a product higher than the competition is often a way to differentiate your brand, even though a particular brand may not be in any way superior to the competition -- people will buy the higher priced stuff simply because they honestly believe they are buying a 'better' product for their cars.

---

Truer words were never spoken.

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Maybe in the Canadian context. Keep in mind, however, that GC is marginally less expensive than M1 in the local AZ stores when at normal prices, but more often than not, there's a special that really brings GC's price down. I would roughly guestimate that I've paid an average of $3.90 for the ninety-something quarts I've hoarded. That's about a dollar less expensive than M1.

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Well, I've never seen M1 priced at $4.90 and if you go to a Costco or Sam's and get it by the case, it comes out to something like $3.80 a qt. In fact, Wal-Mart sells the 5qt jugs for something like $19.70-19.90.....so it still comes out at least the same as GC.
GC is only available at AZ and only some AZs.

 

[axjohn]

"Well, I've never seen M1 priced at $4.90"....

Try driving into ANY store in SoCal!!! You'll see it at about $4.99!!! Pep Boys, AutoZone, Checker/Kragen.

I use GC anyway.

You are correct, though, about lower prices on the product at Sams/Costco.

 

[CONMCK]

Pretty much throughout Alberta at the large stores, CDN Tire, Walmart, all synthetic oils are priced the same in 1 liter bottles with the exception of Mobil 1 being slightly more expensive (approx $0.50) and Amsoil higher yet depending on which series you price. The in house brand names are the only ones cheaper.

 

[pitzel]

quote:

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Originally posted by Patman:

quote:

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Originally posted by pitzel:
Its also expen$ive, around $8-$9/quart

---

It's never been priced that high up here! It has been $6.66 a liter at Walmart for the past year and a half, only recently did it go up to $7.12. At Canadian Tire it was $6.99 but now it's up to about $7.50.

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I should clarify, for the record, GC is $7.12 + $0.10 enviro - tax + 7% GST ($0.51) + 7% PST ($0.51) = $8.24/L out the door, at Wal-Mart here. Esso XD-3 0W30, with apparently similarly good performance is $4.38/L from Esso sources out-the-door here. If one dumps 5L of oil at 5000 mile intervals and puts 250k miles on an engine, $3.90/L saved amounts to a good $1000, a not insignificant chunk of change, while delivering equivilant protection and supporting the Canadian economy, not the economy of Germany.

 

[Gary Allan]

quote:

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and supporting the Canadian economy, not the economy of Germany.

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..and I'd love to support our Canadian cousins ..but some of your most covetted lubricants, at least in the weights you describe, are exclusive to the frozen north alone...and alas ..us friendly and spendy Americans don't have the opportunity to help you out ..so to speak.

[ November 06, 2004, 07:30 PM: Message edited by: Gary Allan ]

 

[redhorse554]

buster-didn't ask the Q sales guy the availablity.
the mid-grade,17.5w35(i've got their fact page handout),is being used by Q sponsored rice rocket
drag car.
jsharpe-mr.friekin was running the booth that john force was commanding..he was willing to talk
about 0w30,since it was not displayed,he just stated that castrol usa was in the early pre-planning stag of bring'ng production of 0w30 to n. america;first via a copac arrangement and then in-house at some time.
blue 99; haven't ever seen a 17.5w35 either.all the Q new race oils had no API or SAE labels.

 

[redhorse554]

as stated by the castrol marketing guru's at sema.
their syntec 5w20 and 20w50 were the direct result
of mobil's saying "nobody could produce those grades"

 

[Mickey_M]

quote:

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Originally posted by redhorse554:
as stated by the castrol marketing guru's at sema. their syntec 5w20 and 20w50 were the direct result of mobil's saying "nobody could produce those grades"

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I'm reasonably sure that Mobil (ExxonMobil) did not say "nobody could produce those grades".

 

[ekpolk]

quote:

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Originally posted by Mickey_M:

quote:

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Originally posted by redhorse554:
as stated by the castrol marketing guru's at sema. their syntec 5w20 and 20w50 were the direct result of mobil's saying "nobody could produce those grades"

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I'm reasonably sure that Mobil (ExxonMobil) did not say "nobody could produce those grades".

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This is a bit baffling. When Mobil first released Mobil-1, it came only in the 5w-20 vis grade.