Shell game?

Oil prices just reached a new high and are hovering around $42 a barrel. Pump prices for gasoline are forecasted to stay high for the foreseeable future. Is this a good time to launch a new "super premium" gasoline? Shell is introducing its new premium brand "V Power." It will cost ten to fifteen cents a gallon more than their premium brand gasoline.

What do consumers get for their added investment? Here's Shell's pitch:

The new gasoline actively cleans critical engine parts as motorists drive, and features more than five times the minimum amount of cleaning agents required by government standards. Shell V-Power gasoline replaces Shell’s existing premium grade gasoline, and is available now at Shell stations across the USA...

...This level of protection helps prevent the future build-up of carbon deposits on your vehicle’s intake valves or fuel injectors.

This seems like something that would have caught auto-owners' attention a couple of decades ago: carbon deposits, cleaning agents, build-up. Many people buy cars that advertise you won't need a tune-up for 100,000 miles. Today, however, many lease, so they just take the car in if there is a problem. Many trade their vehicles so often they barely need to attend to oil changes, let alone worry about the build-up of carbon deposits.

What if they advertised greater performance? Better mileage? Cleaner emissions and aid to a better environment? For more details on the launch and some comments on this odd pitch of a new, high-priced product (a "status fuel?"), go here.