Even if they are buying more expensive cars, Romanians continue to fuel them with the cheapest gas from the range recommended by the producer.

Fuel remains the only product where Romanians haven't changed their consume habits in the past years. Even if now they are buying food and drinks of higher quality and travel outside the country for their holidays, what counts more for Romanians is the image: they are seen behind the steering wheel of an expensive car, what it's in their tanks is not that known. Cheapest is best

The best seller gas in Petrom stations is Eco Premium without lead (3.84 lei per liter), and Euro Diesel 4 (4.24 lei per liter). "These preferences are given by the fact that the products are adapted to the quality imposed by the auto park (that, according to Petrom representatives, is either old, or with cheap cars), but the increase recorded by the buying power makes the options to lean towards the premium area". Last year, in Romania were sold over 315.000 new cars, 60.000 more than in the previous year, which shows that the auto park is in full transformation. In 2003, 60% of the drivers owned a Dacia, and last year their number was reduced significantly, to just 40%.

MOL representatives also think that cheap gas enters only the old cars. "Because the Romanian auto park is old, first in our sales rankings are Tempo Plus 95 and Tempo Diesel", said the officials.

At Rompetrol, cheap products are also the most popular: Efix 95 and Efix Diesel lead in the preferences. These "haven't changed in the past years", according to Rompetrol representatives. The company, led by Dinu Patriciu, sells more gasoline, because 67% of its customer portfolio is represented by auto fleets that use this fuel.

Gas stations-shops

Gas stations were transformed by the oil companies in real shops, in order to reduce the oil producers disappointment about Romanians preference for cheap fuels. Rompetrol has the largest sales of non-oil products in Bucharest, Otopeni and Comarnic, Petrom in the border counties, and MOL in the West of Romania.

The value of the Romanian oil market will be of about 7 billions euro this year, Petrom is expecting a 10% raise on the retail sector, compared to 2007.

Even though companies invest in premium products (Rompetrol will invest 65 millions euro in euro 5 fuels, and Petrom replaced motor oil RO3 with a new range of products), Romanians are measuring differently the price-quality quantum. NOT INTERESTED IN PRICE? Romanians do one thing and say another

The main reason that brings Romanians to fuel from a certain company is determined by the quality of the products (60.9%), according to a study made by Deadalus Consulting. The proximity from their home is second in the preferences order (39.9%), and the fact that "it is a trustworthy company" is the third reason taken into consideration at the selection of an oil company (34.7%). From these datas, and from others released by the companies, we understand that: for consumers, the "quality products" are in fact associated with the image of the oil companies and not the real quality of the products. For example, they purchase the fuel from Petrom, which has "the best gas", just because they know this company very well, not because they are making a comparison between Pertom's products or between Petrom and some other company. Petrom is for 36% from the Romanians the place they last bought their fuel, followed by Rompetrol (15%) and OMV, Lukoil and MOL have under 15% in the preferences rankings. An interesting fact is that, according to the study, the advantageous price is the fifth criterion at the basis of a product selection.