Legendary Aussie brand returns after licence agreement falls through

A major retail brand will be removed from streets across Australia and replaced by another former institutional name and logo.

Iconic petrol station brand Caltex will disappear across the country and be replaced by another institutional retail name Ampol after a license agreement was scrapped.

The petrol retailer announced to the stock market this morning that US oil giant Chevron had terminated the service station chain’s access to the branding, forcing it to adopt the previous name and logo.

The iconic branding was lost nearly 25 years ago.

Caltex Australia was borne after a merger between it and Ampol nearly 25 years ago but the name conversion will begin in June and cost the publicly listed company about $165 million over three years.

The transition will include a marketing strategy to re-familiarise consumers with the retro branding and result in a total savings of up to $20 million in licensing fees.

“Ampol is an iconic brand in Australia and reflects our deep Australian heritage and expertise,” chief executive Julian Segal said in a statement released to the ASX.

“Our market research confirms that Ampol continues to be regarded as a high-quality and trusted brand by Australian consumers and resonates across our key customer segments.

“The transition to Ampol supports our evolution into a growing regional fuels and convenience business and will allow us to invest and build equity in a company-owned brand as we continue the rollout of our retail strategy.”

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Aussies will need to get used to the massive brand change. Picture: Gosford Library Gostalgia.

Caltex was created when the two merged in 1995.

Chevron sold its $4.6 billion half-share in Caltex Australia in 2015, but maintained the licensing deal for use of the name.

“We are proud of the high-quality products and services that we have safely and reliably supplied to our valued retail and business customers for more than 100 years,” Mr Segal said.

“This includes the work we have done in leading the introduction of advanced high-quality premium fuels in Australia, and this product innovation will continue and strengthen under the Ampol brand.”

Shares in Caltex Australia dipped 0.76 per cent to $33.91 after 10 minutes of trade on Monday.

— with AAP

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Originally published as Legendary Aussie brand returns after licence agreement falls through