Is Chevron consolidating brands?

[Super S]

Over the last few months, I have noticed three of the few remaining Texaco stations in my area have rebranded to Chevron. I am curious if Chevron is doing this to consolidate markets where both brands are present into one brand...I know they are the same company. However, I have also noticed that Texaco Havoline motor oil has disappeared locally as well. My Chevron card still bears both the Chevron and Texaco logos. It seems that as time has gone on, more emphasis has been placed on the Techron additive which appeared at Texaco stations after Chevron and Texaco merged than on the Texaco brand itself.

I suppose it's possible some markets have rebranded to Texaco, but I haven't read anything on this subject.

[storewanderer]

I would say the answer is no. A few months ago, a new Texaco station appeared at an offramp in Auburn, CA (was a Beacon before that) after a very extensive renovation. There is a high gas volume corporate Chevron nearby at another offramp that commands a very high price and I suspect they want to protect that location.

However in my area, they have aggressively rebranded locations that previously had Texaco branding, to Chevron branding. I believe in my area the only Texaco branded sites left are one in Fallon, NV and one in Yerington, NV.

Previously we had some Chevron-affiliated Texaco sites in Sparks, NV; Carson City, NV; Winnemucca, NV; Carlin, NV; those were all rebranded to Chevron. This has happened one station at a time over the past 4-5 years.

I think the general feeling is the stations perform better with the Chevron brand in certain territories, so stations jump at the opportunity to use that brand. Texaco is definitely a secondary brand in much of the west.

[Alpha8472]

I passed by the Chevron headquarters in San Ramon, California today. Even in that area there are Texaco stations. One is located 1000 feet from a Chevron. As long as the 2 stations do decent business, they can coexist. Two Chevron branded stations that close would be too much. If they were to close the Texaco, another company would take over the gas station and Chevron would lose the sales.

They both have Extra Mile convenience stores and car washes. They seem to have the same prices and do the same amount of business. However, the Texaco appears less flashy. The Chevron has an electric blue stripe, while the Texaco decor does not have any flashy lighting, and the Extra Mile sign is very small. The Texaco lot and convenience store appear to be smaller in size.

There is another Texaco in the area across the street from a Chevron. It was a Valero just a few years ago. It was converted to Texaco with an unbranded convenience store. However, the Texaco has auto repair and the Chevron does not.

[jamcool]

Texaco is more of a “distributor” brand offered by wholesalers to dealers. Chevron was/is a company- owned station brand (although there are dealers with multiple sites). Both take each others cards and have the same Techron fuel additive.

[Super S]

Note to moderator: I posted to "Non Region-Specific" while not realizing that gas stations are technically non-grocery posts (even though many have convenience stores), and probably should have posted under "Specialty Retail Chains" instead.

There are several former Texaco stations near me that have converted to unbranded fuel, and it was a very sloppy conversion in most cases as they are easily recognizable as former Texaco stations with elements of signage and colors still intact.

Chevron is not a company-owned station brand. Many Chevron locations are franchises and the franchise's name appears next to the locations where I purchase fuel on my bill each month. Some have many stations where some have only one.

[wnetmacman]

I would definitely say no. What Chevron is doing is using Texaco as a more secondary brand.

I have two locations close to me that have both names side by side. One set is two convenience stores that were originally separate, but have been purchased by the same ownership over the years. Those two pretty much operate as separate locations with Texaco and Chevron.

The second set are two truck stops about 7 miles north of me. One was built new a couple of years ago as a Chevron with a local restaurant and huge convenience store/casino combination. The other was their competition across the street. When the competition folded under the pressure of the new location, the owner of the newer one bought it as well, converting gas to Texaco and adding a Huddle House. It's in much better shape now.

[Brian Lutz]

In general, around here the Texaco brand seems to be used only when there's another Chevron fairly close by, and for some reason also seems to often be used on stations with full service car washes. For example, here is an example in Kirkland WA where there is a Chevron and a Texaco right next to each other, with the Chevron being a typical station with an ExtraMile and the Texaco being a full-service car wash. Here is a Texaco in Bellevue attached to a Brown Bear Car Wash (although I have also seen a number of other Brown Bears with Chevron branding; I recall that they used to have 76 gas but switched to Chevron at some point. Most newer Brown Bear locations don't sell gas at all.) Here's another one in Everett that used to be a Texaco (you can tell they didn't do much to rebrand it).

[klkla]

Does anyone really pay attention to the brand of gasoline? It's all the same thing. The octane ratings are the only serious differences in gasoline quality. The additives are mostly a marketing gimmick.

I would think most people choose which gasoline by either 1) The convenience of the location and/or 2) The price.

[Super S]

Does anyone really pay attention to the brand of gasoline? It's all the same thing. The octane ratings are the only serious differences in gasoline quality. The additives are mostly a marketing gimmick.

I would think most people choose which gasoline by either 1) The convenience of the location and/or 2) The price.

Some brands of gasoline have reputations of not having the highest quality fuel. I will say that I have had issues with Arco and some Safeway locations in the past, and know of others who have had issues with some unbranded stations where the tanks and pumps are not maintained properly. The branded stations overall tend to maintain their pumps and tanks better and tend to stand behind their quality if problems arise. So, yes, some of us do pay attention to the brand.

[Alpha8472]

Chevron and Texaco are Top Tier gas. Top Tier gas meets certain standards for detergent gas. Chevron and Texaco have the same additives including Techron.

ARCO is also Top Tier gas, but people say the quality is low. Safeway gas is not Top Tier. Most off brand gas stations do not meet Top Tier standards. Speedway is not Top Tier, but many of these Speedway stations were previously Top Tier under Mobil or Shell. I have noticed that in the San Francisco Bay Area Chevron charges the highest prices, but people still keep buying from them. The name is a local company and people are loyal. In fact, there is a McDonald's in San Francisco that is designed to look like a Chevron gas station with fake gas pumps inside. People love it.