The Chinese Petroleum Corp (CPC, 中油) yesterday cranked up its efforts to retain customers by pledging to give away a new car every day until the end of the year, effectively outdoing a similar offer by competitor Formosa Petrochemical Corp (FPC, 台塑).
Speaking to around 400 service-station owners from northern Taiwan invited to attend the promotion's launch, CPC chairman Chen Chao-wei (
"In response to the arrival of the consumer era, CPC is raising the quality of its products and service," Chen said, declaring that everyday for 47 days CPC would award one 1,600cc car from Yulon Motors (
Another 100 lucky motorists will be awarded gasoline vouchers worth NT$5,000 everyday, with winners for all daily prizes -- claimed by CPC to be valued at NT$1 million -- being selected randomly by computer from among receipts of the day.
The promotion, which will run from Wednesday until Dec. 31, follows a similar marketing ploy by arch rival FPC who late last month began giving away one car per week to customers as well as overseas holidays and video cameras.
FPC is unconcerned about the campaign with spokesman Lee Nan-hen (
Although CPC had said it was preparing to sustain revenue losses of up to NT$60 billion annually after liberalization, executives have been surprised at how fast FPC has cut into its market share.
"We had expected to lose under 10 percent of market share ... but FPC has already taken 10 percent," said one company executive, attributing the company's better-than-expected success to promotions like the car giveaway and its newcomer novelty among consumers serviced for 50 years by only CPC.
To date, FPG has won over 216 gas stations which have either joined the chain of Formosa Life Stations or switched suppliers, with executives estimating that figure will rise to around 300 to 400 by year end, while CPC has retained supply contracts with 1,167 independently-run stations.
CPC directly operates 604 stations. However, Formosa has been hindered in its mission to snatch half of the domestic market away from CPC by mid-2001by problems with sluggish supply of gasoline and diesel to ghas stations.
Lee admitted that with only one receiving terminal and one refinery in Mailiao, central Taiwan and no pipelines criss-crossing the country, FPC has to rely soley on tankers to deliver their product.
CPC on the other hand has four refineries, eight receiving terminals, pipelines linking north and south and storage facilities dotted all over the country, according to CPC.
"CPC has faster delivery to stations because it has storage tanks and pipelines everywhere," Lee said. "These were established years ago when as the company was state-run no one could challenge its right to do so," he added.
"Try and build storage tanks now people would certainly object, nobody would agree," Lee said.
Despite problems with land acquisition, Lee said that FPC is working to remedy the supply problem by constructing additional receiving ports and storage facilities in Kaohsiung, Taipei and Taichung.
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