Introduction to German Independent Petrol Brands

With its historical tendency to have a large number of medium-sized family-owned companies (the Mittelstand) in most industries, it is not surprising that Germany has always had a large number of independent petrol distributors, supplying as many as 25% of German petrol stations. These companies used four possible branding strategies:

• Developing their own proprietary brand
• Selling fuel under a collective brand such as Avia, Freie T (BFT) or, rarely, Unitol
• Distributing petrol under a major company brand - most commonly DEA
• Supplying unbranded petrol, usually to discount stations

Collective (Cooperative) Brands

AVIA

AVIA is a Swiss based cooperative linking over 100 independent fuel distributors in several European countries. The AVIA name first became available for use in Germany around 1953, and as there is a page devoted to German AVIA participants, no more information will be given on this page.

Right: A 1966 sectional AVIA map of Germany

Freie T, BFT

The Bundesverband Freien Tankstellen (=State Association of Free Filling Stations) has represented over 1,000 independent service stations in Germany for many years. Realising the value of a common brand, it developed the Freie T mark, but around 1990 replaced it with a smarter BFT logo. The only known map carries a simple Freie T overprint onto a stock JRO issue of West Germany dating from around 1963; a rubber stamp identifies it as having come from Aera Großtankstelle in the Saar.

Uniti

Unlike AVIA and Freie T, Uniti acts mainly as a trade association for independents using either their own or a major brand and has only a handful of stations using a yellow and black Unitol identity today. Formed in 1927, it assisted its members to issue maps in the 1930s by providing a standard basic design - several examples are shown on the Uniti 1930s page. After the war its members had a greater freedom to choose their own maps. The example shown here is highly unusual in that it is Uniti colours and the name of the member company Chemische Fabrik Osnabrück is given little prominence, suggesting they might have used the Uniti brand. The map was issued for Uniti Vereinigung Deutsche Kraftstoffgrosshandler eV, with card covers enclosing a stock map.
Image courtesy Wilhelm Feuer

Index to Independents known to have issued maps

Brand Used on Map	Corporate Name (if different to Brand)	Link to Map on this website
Adler		Amoco
Arenol	Albert Renné	Uniti maps of the 1930s
Autol		Post-war German, A-G
AVIA	A May	German Avia Participants
AVIA	Georg Oest & Cie (Ostol)	German Avia Participants
Bolco	Bolte Co. KG	Post-war German, A-G
Brennag	Brennstoff AG	Uniti maps of the 1930s
Brenntag	Brennstoff-, Chemikalien- und Transport A.G (Otto Stinnes)	Fanal
BV-Aral	Gebrüder Hoppe	German Maps - Overview
Caltex	Oest Caltex (Ostol)	German Avia Participants
Cidisol (and Disolin?)	C.J. Diederichs Söhne	Post-war German, A-G
DEA	Casati & Lederhausen	Westfalen
DEA	Otto Fricke & Co	DEA
DEA	Edmund Martin	DEA
DEA	Fritz Sibilsky Mineralöle	DEA
Deltin	Merk & Cie	Deltin
Donath	Paul Donath	Uniti maps of the 1930s
Eller Montan		No images available
Espolin	Alfred Espig & Co	Uniti maps of the 1930s
Esslin Tank	Wilhelm Grothues	Post-war German, A-G
Euco	Everth & Co	Uniti maps of the 1930s
Fanal		Fanal
Frisia		Fanal
GD	Gebrüder Didillon	Post-war German, A-G
Haltermann		Post-war German, H
Hettöl	Fritz Hettesheimer Mineralöle	Post-war German, H
Hinrich Stohr		Post-war German, H
Homberg		Post-war German, H
H&P	Heidemann & Pelzer	Uniti maps of the 1930s
Hudolin	Bremer Chemische Fabrik	Uniti maps of the 1930s
Kraftin, Kraftex	Werner Lücke (Kraftin)	Post-war German, K-Z
Kraftstoff		OXY
Lotherol	Hermann Lother	Post-war German, K-Z
May-Tank	A May	German Avia Participants
Migrol	Pröls KG	Migrol
Milag		1930s German companies outside Uniti
Montan Union		Montan Union
Ölhag (Rekordin)	Oel-Handels-Gesellschaft Hamburg	Coming Soon
Oelvertrieb Nordhausen	Kurt Isermeyer	Uniti maps of the 1930s
Olus	Hromada & Co	Uniti maps of the 1930s
Optimol (DEA)		DEA
Rheinpreussen		DEA
RKS	ReichsKraftSprit	Coming soon
Rückwarth		Westfalen
Sopi		Jet
Stinnes Fanal		Fanal
Strato		Post-war German, K-Z
SVG		Post-war German, K-Z
Tramin		Post-war German, K-Z
TS	Tankdienst Sengeisen	Post-war German, K-Z
Turbotank	Bösche und Bödeker	1980s German independents
Varol	Kraftstoff	OXY
VC (Vostaline)	Vogt & Co Görlitz	Uniti maps of the 1930s
VK	Georg von Opel	Jet
? Vogelsang	Carl Vogelsang Mineralöle	Uniti maps of the 1930s
Westfalen		Westfalen
Widenmeyer		Widenmeyer
? Willer	Anton Willer	Uniti maps of the 1930s
Wiol	Hüsmert, Ross u.Co	1930s German companies outside Uniti

For the record, the following larger or foreign-owned companies are not regarded as being independents on this page: Agip, Aral, BP, Caltex, DEA, Derop, Esso/Standard/Dapolin, Fina/Purfina, Gasolin, Gulf, Jet/Conoco, Leuna, Nitag, Shell, Texaco and Total. There have been, of course, many other independent brands as large as those shown on this page, and some will have issued maps - please send me an e-mail if you have any examples.
East German brands are also excluded from this page, as they were state-owned.

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Text and layout © Ian Byrne, 2007