British confused about petrol — firm

Press, 6 October 1989, Page 41

British confused about petrol — firm

Although the British motorist has made significant progress towards conversion to unleaded petrol, the confusion that continues to mar the market leaves no room for complacency, according to Roger Colomb, Texaco’s managing director.

Britain had a National Lead Free Petrol Week from September 25 to October 1 and Texaco, the first oil company to offer unleaded petrol at all its service stations in the United Kingdom, now accounts for more than 28 per cent of sales — a dramatic Increase from 1988’s three per cent and in excess of the industry s average of 23 per cent

But Mr Colomb believes that before further progress can be made with motorists in Britain who have not converted to unleaded fuel, a great deal of confusion has to be overcome in the market place, partly because of the ill-timed introduction of supeß unleaded high octane petrol.

Citing some of the misconceptions that have surrounded super unleaded, Mr Colomb said that the majority of vehicles able to run on unleaded can quite easily be adjusted to use the cheaper 95 octane petrol. Less than one per cent of Britain’s car population is in the performance category where the higher octane is necessary.

Motorists with cars designed or tuned to run on the current premium unleaded grade could be made to believe that changing to super unleaded will improve performance, but this is not so, according to Mr Colomb.

Texaco has had facilities in place to manufacture the new high octane fuel for some time, but is holding back on its introduction until the company feels that the time Is right

In New Zealand, everything points to the Marsden Point oil refinery never generating the concerns that are causing Texaco’s managing director to worry at present because the refinery was not designed with the capability of manufacturing an unleaded petrol with an octane rating higher than 91.

Thus New Zealand is said to be faced with no other alternative than to import higher octane unleaded petroL

In the main, owners of used Japanese imported cars are just becoming aware of the damage leaded high octane petrol can do to their cars, but at this juncture the damage has not become a big issue.

However, concern will begin to mount as new cars from Japan and Europe become more common in new car outlets throughout the country, because those cars will require unleaded high octane petrol, and if the status quo is allowed to remain, it just won’t be available.