Motor Oil Brands: Who Owns Whom and What You Pay For

Wed, 11 Nov 2026 11:00:00 +0100

In 1974, Mobil put a fully synthetic motor oil on American shelves under a name that had never sold a quart of anything: Mobil 1. It cost several times what conventional oil cost, it was sold as a chemical engineering product rather than a brand, and within two decades its name had become a generic shorthand for “the expensive oil.” Every brand argument on this page starts with that bottle.

Base Oil on Motor Oil Guide

Motor Oil Brands: Who Owns Whom and What You Pay For