Tokyo — Cosmo Oil Lubricants is a wholly owned subsidiary of Cosmo Oil, and it opened its first direct management lubricant oil business, Lub.Oil Exchange Plaza ″Mr. Lio″ in Matsuyama, Ehime on April 1, 2004. Cosmo Oil Lubricants produces and sells lubricating-oil.
Oil sales to Service Stations have become difficult because of the decreasing number of Service Stations, increasing number of Self Service Stations, the lightweight oil capacity of cars, and prolonged oil exchange cycles of drivers. In this situation, Cosmo Oil Lubricants started by opening direct management lub. oil shops.
The most important purpose of opening ″Mr. Lio″ is collecting new information such as user needs and market trends. Mr. Lio will send information about Lub. Oil product sales to Nationwide Cosmo Service Stations.
The second purpose is expansion of market place recognition of the ″Cosmo Lio series″ to acquire sales amounts as car shops do.
The third purpose is the accumulation of operation know-how and development of many shops.
Mr. Lio is a typical American lub. oil shop, which is a quick lube job style. In Japan, some car shops and garages have already adopted this style. However, Mr. Lio is the first lub. oil exchange shop in the petroleum wholesaler market.
This shop is at the site of Cosmo Matsuyama Oil. It is also next to the Self Service Station, which will open at same time as Cosmo Oil Sales, Shikoku Company. In addition, a home center called ″Konan″ will open on April 22nd at the same site. The task is attracting many customers from business areas such as oil sales at car shops.
Certified engineers are placed in the shop. This appeals to customers and they set up their own membership system. The members get various special services.
The opening events are being held from April 1 to May 31, 2004, and the aim is to get customers during the Golden Week period.
