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Drivers Turn Backs On Premium Gas
(Lucian Perkins - The Washington Post)
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Although the public appetite for higher-octane fuels has waned, some oil companies have been aggressively pushing premium brands.
In 2004, Shell launched a $30 million advertising campaign in what it called "one of the company's most significant marketing investments" since it began selling fuel in the United States nearly a century ago. Through television, print, radio and Internet ads, direct-mail promotions and displays at its stations, Shell touted the virtues of its V-Power gasoline, which the company said has five times the amount of cleaning agents required by the federal government. The company followed up with a $25 million campaign in 2005.
BP this summer launched touring exhibits to promote its Amoco Ultimate premium fuel. Among them is a car with a split engine, one side filled with regular gas and the other with Amoco Ultimate.
Scott Dean, a spokesman for BP America, said the company thinks there is a growing network of young hot rodders willing to pay extra for better performance.
"They have no problem with putting more money under the hood to enhance the performance of their vehicle," Dean said. "And they feel the same way about gas."
Not everyone is so casual when it comes to buying gas.
Atakilt Mekonnen, who has been driving a cab for 10 years, can talk all about the virtues of premium gasoline. But he doesn't enjoy paying for the pricey fuel.
"That's big money. That's not easy for me," said Mekonnen, 48, who figures that he spends $50 a day on gas.
For now, he'll stick with premium, Mekonnen said as he filled his 1995 Lincoln Town Car at a station in downtown DC earlier this week, at $3.34 a gallon.
"But I don't know, if the business is slow, I may go down and see what effect it has on my car."
