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Aug 6, 2008 REPLIES Petrol prices: Winning over customers is the name of the game WE REFER to Mr Richard Lau and Mr Tan Yu Wei's letters on petrol prices last Wednesday and Friday ('Why do petrol prices move in tandem at all stations?' and 'Why oil companies are seen as an oligopoly') respectively. Pump prices move rapidly to reflect market conditions because Singapore's retail petrol market is extremely competitive. Our consumers are very price sensitive, our geography is small and petrol station networks significantly overlap one another. Under such circumstances, competition is so keen that ExxonMobil is compelled to close any price gap very quickly. It also explains why ExxonMobil has no price differentials even if full cost recovery is not possible. For instance, there have been occasions in the past when a company raised its pump price only to back down in order to retain its customers, because its competitors did not raise theirs. ExxonMobil's key objective is to win over consumers. Given the market's price competitiveness, we have extended our competitive value proposition beyond fuel pricing to include loyalty programmes and a wide range of services and product offerings. This includes our alliance with NTUC FairPrice to give value and convenience to our customers through the largest network of Esso retail service stations. We are committed to continually introduce innovative products and services to improve our ability to compete in the market place. We also wish to reiterate that ExxonMobil believes that free market forces are the most efficient allocator of resources and should be the final arbiter of market prices. We are therefore against any form of anti-competitive practices. Loh Chee Seng Retail Sales Manager ExxonMobil Asia Pacific Pte Ltd http://www.straitstimes.com/ST%2BForum/Sto...ory_264865.html alliance with aunty lucy gives value meh? the things sold there almost as if not more then 6 1/2 -11. if really wanna win customers then drop those gimmicks points and fight on price lor, since they claim customers r price sensitive. wanna bluff also use rite facts mah

Israel electric car project aims to wipe out oilSell them like mobile phones, kill oil by 2020 By John Lettice → More by this author Published Tuesday 22nd January 2008 14:20 GMT -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nail down your security priorities. Ask the experts and your peers at The Register Security Debate, April 17, 2008 DLD08 Israel today announced backing for Project Better Place, intended to switch motor transportation from oil to electric, and by a massive coincidence one of the project's prime movers, Shai Agassi of Better PLC, was evangelising at the DLD (Digital Life, Design) show in Munich. His objective, he says, is to "take one country off oil in a way that is repeatable." Israel is that country. And the model is the mobile phone. Really. The point of choosing Israel, says Agassi, is that doing it in a chaotic country is important, and he claims Israel is the most chaotic nation he knows. Plus there are helpful limits to how far you can drive in Israel - the endurance of a electric car on one 'fill up' is about 200km, and that easily covers the furthest you can go within Israel. He takes a pretty rational view of how far people are prepared to go to save the planet, and when it comes to cars that's not very far. It's got to be your car, no shares, with performance and size at least equivalent to today's models. It's got to be affordable (which includes image and cred, so lose points for non 'green' Hummers), and it's got to be fairly easy to 'fill up'. That last one's one of the gotchas of electric, and it's Agassi's primary point of attack. So you've got a vehicle that allows people to be green without it actually costing them anything to do so, and you've got the 'filling stations'. Which work this way. Israel will be blanketed with a network of battery exchange stations and roadside charge points which allow the cars to be charged whenever they're parked. Agassi suggests there will be about 500,000 of these, and points out that it's doable, because they've got them in Sweden, Norway and parts of Canada, where if you don't plug in when you stop your engine freezes. Charge points and swap stations mean there's no need for lengthy charge periods, so 'filling up' should take no more time than it does currently at a petrol station. Israel's helping with the economics. It currently taxes electric vehicles at 10 per cent and petrol at 72 per cent, and the government has promised to keep the electric car tax at that level until at least 2015. The switchover to electric vehicles is where the mobile phone model comes in. Say the motorist pays the equivalent of their current annual petrol bill for a mileage plan, they could be given the car to use, and it would become theirs after four years. Other mobile plans could operate - all you can eat unlimited mileage, pay as you go, and so on. The plan is to have the first of the cars on the road in 2009, 100,000 in 2010 and Israel off oil within ten years. Singapore boleh

Borneo aims to sell over 4,500 Vios this year By C Y Chew - April 4, 2007 The Business Times It looks like a mini-Corolla Altis and there is now an additional variant in the range, so it's not surprising to hear that 400 of the all-new Toyota Vios models have been sold since authorised distributor Borneo Motors started taking orders in early March. The second-generation Vios was officially launched here last Friday with three different grades - a new entry-level J grade, plus E and G. All cars will be equipped with ABS and at least one airbag. The new Vios is also larger in all aspects than its predecessor and its 50mm longer wheelbase provides increased cabin space and a flat rear floor. As a result, Borneo Motors hopes the new Vios will expand its already impressive customer base. Over 6,500 units were sold last year and half of the new orders collected so far have been from people who have previously bought a Vios. The Vios is the spiritual successor of the Toyota Soluna, the first Thai-made car to be sold in Singapore. More than 445,000 units have been sold worldwide since it was launched in 2002. Since then, Toyota vehicles made in Thailand have steadily gained acceptance among Singaporeans, and according to Toyota's assistant chief engineer Yasuharu Akigawa, quality is first-rate. 'Perhaps five to 10 years ago, Thailand might not have had the same assembly technology, but today the quality of Thai-made automobiles is definitely on a par with Japanese-made vehicles,' he says. All the Thai-made cars for Asean markets are still developed in Japan before being 'localised' at Toyota Technological Centre Asia-Pacific. 'The Vios was designed from the start as a stand-alone vehicle,' Mr Akigawa says, through his translator. 'Yes, it shares a similar platform with the Toyota Yaris but it was developed as an independent vehicle from day one and not adapted from the Yaris platform.' He says it is Toyota's aim that all models destined for Asean will eventually be manufactured in Thailand and that while there are no plans to export these vehicles back to Japan, cars like the Vios are already being sold in territories like Australia and the Middle East. Pricing for the Toyota Vios starts at $49,000 and Borneo Motors hopes to sell over 4,500 cars in the rest of this year. Last year, the Toyota Vios was Singapore's fourth best-selling car - behind the Mitsubishi Lancer, Nissan Sunny and the best-seller Toyota Corolla Altis. Except for 2006, the Vios had always been the third most popular model in Singapore since it was introduced here in January 2003. When asked why the model was being replaced after only a relatively short time, Mr Akigawa says: 'A five-year shelf life is normal.'