Europa (New Zealand)
Encyclopedia
Europa was a New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

-owned oil company that was operated by the Todd family in New Zealand, in competition with overseas firms such as Texaco (now Caltex in NZ), Plume (now Mobil), Shell and Atlantic.

Starting in Dunedin (where the Todd family was based), in 1931 Charles Todd
Charles Todd (New Zealand)
Charles Todd , fellmonger, wool-scourer, motor car importer and assembler, petrol importer and retailer, industrialist and community leader; he was a leading New Zealand businessman and was a principal founder of the Todd Corporation-References:...

 decided to import his own petrol. From 1933 the Europa brand of cheap imported petrol from the Soviet Union was sold through a chain of service stations across the country, in association with the New Zealand Farmer's Union and various regional Automobile Associations. Because of price undercutting by the overseas firms, the government introduced regulation of petrol prices from 1933 http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/4t20/1.

In 1972 British Petroleum
BP
BP p.l.c. is a global oil and gas company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest energy company and fourth-largest company in the world measured by revenues and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors"...

 NZ
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 acquired a 60% interest in the company.

During this time, the company produced what was an award-winning television advert that featured American rock legend Stevie Ray Vaughan and New Zealand Blues legend Midge Marsden
Midge Marsden
Keith Douglas "Midge" Marsden MNZM is a New Zealand blues and R&B guitarist, harmonica-player, and singer with a musical career spanning four decades.-Biography:...

as part of the "Travellin' On" television adverts. The television adverts were shot mainly around the Central North Island of New Zealand during 1988.

This would be the last major television advert used until 1989 when the Europa brand was replaced with the BP shield.

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