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 Underlying Caltex’s introduction of Texol fuel to select New Zealand test markets in 1961 was a well-kept secret. “Texol” was the company’s code name for Boron fuel, which went onto the New Zealand market after two years of testing amongst taxi fleets and large commercial fleets in New Zealand’s capital, Wellington. Why the secrecy? Caltex wanted to be sure the product lived up to the company’s research and advance hopes for it. After all, then as now, Caltex stands by its products, services, and the brands that it carries, and it had big plans for the Boron brand.
When Boron was introduced nationwide, it helped Caltex considerably increase its fuel market share in New Zealand. Advertised as the fuel that can “spark engines to instant life, burn clean and give more power and mileage,” Boron was next launched in Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Hong Kong and throughout Europe, where premium sales rose nearly 40 per cent in an eight-month period of 1964. Just a year later, Caltex introduced Astron fuel in Rhodesia, Zambia and Australia. The most advanced motor fuel formulation ever developed by the Caltex Central Laboratories, Astron was particularly effective in cleaning, renewing and protecting automobile engines.
Caltex had already achieved similarly dramatic results with such products as Improved Combustion Plus (IC-Plus), its first motor fuel additive at the time of its introduction in 1953. Four years later, the company introduced RPM Supreme Multigrade, its first multigrade motor oil. Dyed red for promotional purposes, the product was an advance on earlier Socal RPM motor oils.
As automobile specifications changed, Caltex introduced new products throughout its marketing area, such as Caltex Custom Five Star, a premium grade, and Caltex Five Star Motor Oil, the standard grade. These products incorporated an exclusive new balance of additives, specifically compounded to meet the exacting requirements of the latest high-compression engines.
 By 1974, a worldwide fuel shortage prompted Caltex to introduce a petrol with different attributes: CX-3, the fuel that “turns unburned hydrocarbons into extra kilometres,” followed shortly by Caltex CX lubricant, “the fuel saver motor oil.”
Twelve years later, Caltex received an enthusiastic response when it launched its Techron Unleaded Petrol in Australia and New Zealand. The product blended a high-quality fuel with a sophisticated additive that acted as a detergent to minimize performance-robbing deposits that may form on carburetors, fuel injectors and intake valves.
The ability to adapt to changing environments is second nature for a company that has long tailored its fuels and lubricants to meet its global customers’ specific local needs. . Caltex benefits from the experience of its parent companies, both leaders in product development with such early breakthrough fuels as Zerolene motor oil and Texaco Fire Chief fuel.
Often, Caltex has worked closely with its parent companies to develop and market a new or improved product. For example, in 1994, after Texaco upgraded its best-selling Havoline brand, Caltex introduced the new Havoline Formula3 motor oil throughout its marketing area.
 With its partners or independently, Caltex has established an international reputation for the reliability and unsurpassed performance of its fuels and lubricants. Living up to this reputation is a daily challenge, on which Caltex is proud to deliver. In 2000, its product roster included such proven favorites as Caltex Vortex Gold/Silver and Caltex Vortex Platinum fuels available in various octane grades, depending on local market requirements. All three have been extensively tested in a wide range of engines and vehicles. In all cases, Vortex has proved effective at both preventing and removing deposits from critical engine parts. Caltex also provides fuel for industrial, airline and aviation applications.
Caltex’s array of high-performance lubricants includes such well-known brands as Havoline, Delo, Revtex, Extended Life Coolants and Power CLEAN. A quality leader for more than 100 years, Havoline became The Texas Co.’s premier lubricant when the company acquired Indian Refining Co. in 1931 and obtained rights to the Havoline formulation. Delo also has a long history of proven performance, dating to 1935 when Socal introduced it as the first commercially available detergent-type diesel engine oil.
Caltex also provides a range of high-quality liquefied petroleum gas products for both home and commercial use. The products’ versatile and unique characteristics lend themselves to a variety of uses such as garments, tobacco curing, food processing, steel milling and gas manufacturing – as well as for automobile engines. A mixture of propane and butane, Caltex Autogas has proven to be an effective substitute for fuel in spark ignition engines. Here again, there is a historical link: In 1981, Caltex began offering compressed natural gas to drivers at service stations in New Zealand.
While the brands vary, all Caltex products are designed to provide customers with peak performance and efficiency – just as they have since Caltex marketed its first products in 1936.
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