Gull Calls for a Better Deal for High Octane Motorists

Gull Calls for a Better Deal for High Octane Motorists

Is a 30 or 40 cents per litre premium for high octane fair?

Auckland, 10 June 2014 - Family owned fuel retailer and champion of the kiwi motorist, Gull New Zealand today warned drivers of cars using high octane fuel not to get caught out when paying for petrol for their vehicles.

Dave Bodger General Manager Gull, says that many drivers of high octane vehicles are paying through the nose for fuel.

“Gull is a firm believer in brisk competition. In an informal survey conducted in Auckland last week, up to a quarter of service stations were being unfair to high octane motorists when pricing Premium grade petrol.”

Gull surveyed prices at 64 opposition outlets on 28 and 29 May - the day before and the day of Gull’s most recent 10 cent per litre discount promotion. Seventeen outlets chose to hold the price of Premium petrol while dropping the price of Regular 91.

“A high proportion of our competition is prepared to drop Regular 91 prices to match Gull,” says Bodger, “but have no interest in dropping Premium petrol prices. From our investigation some brands and outlets appear to have an inflexible approach to Premium prices regardless of how low Regular petrol falls in price. This is basic insincerity by my book.

“Gull keeps a constant price differential between Premium and Regular grade petrol, and we believe our competitors should too. With up to 1 in 4 keeping Premium prices high we think it is greedy profit taking and not a fair deal for consumers.

“To those of our competitors that are dragging the chain Premium fuel prices we say; If you can afford to match Gull on Regular then why not match on Premium as well?

“If we adopted the same policy as some of our opposition it would equate to over $1 million in additional revenue each year, and we are only 5% of the market. Gull won’t be changing its approach; we see this money as better invested in our customers. They need it, Gull doesn’t.”

Information

There are two legislated grades of petrol in New Zealand “Regular” with an octane rating of 91 or more and “Premium” with an octane rating of at least 95. All Gull outlets that sell Premium grade petrol sell Gull Force 10 a 98 octane grade. Two other brands retail 98 octane Premium at some outlets and 95 octane Premium at other outlets. The remaining two major fuel brands sell only a 95 Octane Premium.

In general:
· 95 Octane prices are 8 to 10 cents per litre higher at the pump than Regular.
· 98 Octane is 15 to 17 cents per litre higher at the pump than Regular.

Gull aims to have a Gull Force 10 prices at no more than 15 cents per litre above Gull Regular.
Invariably service stations only display the Regular 91 Octane and diesel price on road side price signs.
Premium petrol represents around 20% of all petrol sold in New Zealand
Octane is a measure an engine’s resistance to “knocking”, “pinking” or pre ignition. Engines can knock or pink when under load a higher octane petrol maintains correct ignition and correct power output.

Engines with higher compression ratios in general require a higher octane petrol to work than other engines. Performance vehicles in general have a higher compression ratio.

Motorists should always follow their manufacturer’s recommendation for octane required. NEVER use a lower octane than your manufacturer notes

Prices at service stations where Gull controls prices as at 10am on June 6:

Gull Regular 91: $1.969 to $2.129 per litre,
an average of $2.075 per litre

Gull Force 10: (98 Octane Premium): $2.119 and $2.279 per litre
an average of $2.224 per litre

Gull Ultra Low Sulphur Diesel: $ 1.359 and $ 1.469 per litre
an average of $1.409 per litre

Ends

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