OEM oil manufacturer change?

[drwankel]

I was at the dealer today picking up some top up oil for my other BMW, an M340i, and I noticed that the labeling on the bottle had changed a bit, including the 10w60 for our cars.

I asked the parts guy if shell was still making the OEM oil, and he said BMW has switched back to Castrol.

Any truth to this? If it is true, I wonder if this is the same formula as the old castrol oil they had back in the day, or if its something completely different. We all know that the Shell oil was not the same as the original Castrol oil.

Anybody with some insider knowledge?

[TboneS54]

Yes, this happened at least a year ago if not more. I think the formula has changed many times since the old days when we were using TWS. Even the retail bottle of Castrol "supercar" has changed from a gold bottle to black and now called Eurocar. Still says it has their "titanium technology," but I suspect it's changed quite a bit over the years.

Retail, OEM or genuine labeled bottle, it's still too expensive IMO, and I've switched to Motul (ester "power" or 8100 x-power) which is no less of a quality lube, but for much less (in 5L jugs).