HOUSTON — Exxon Mobil Corp. said yesterday it’s getting out of the retail gasoline business, following other major oil companies who’ve been selling their low-margin stations to gasoline distributors.

Motorists, however, will continue to see Exxon’s Tiger-themed stations and Mobil outlets in their neighborhoods. About 75% of Exxon Mobil’s roughly 12,000 stations in America are already owned by branded distributors who buy Exxon Mobil products and pay to use the name.

Irving-based Exxon, the world’s biggest publicly traded oil company, said it now plans to sell to distributors its remaining 820 company-owned stations and another 1,400 outlets operated by dealers. Exxon Mobil didn’t disclose financial details but said the sales will take place over a “multiyear period.”

“As the highly competitive fuels marketing business in the U.S. continues to evolve, we believe this transition is the best way for Exxon Mobil to compete and grow in the future,” the director of Exxon Mobil’s American retail sales, Ben Soraci, said.

Exxon Mobil is not alone among Big Oil exiting the retail gas business, a market where profits have gotten tougher as crude oil prices have risen. In fact, industry officials say the major oil companies own fewer than 5% of American gas stations.

Gas prices reached a new record at the pump yesterday, rising to a national average of $4.06 a gallon.

Still, station owners say they’re struggling to turn a profit on gas because while wholesale gasoline prices have risen sharply in recent months, they’ve been unable to raise pump prices fast enough to keep pace.

Most gasoline retailers long ago got past any illusion they can make money by selling gas. They rely on gas sales to drive traffic to their shops, where they hope auto repairs or food and drink sales will help them turn a profit.

A spokesman for the National Association of Convenience Stores, Jeff Lenard, said Exxon Mobil’s decision to sell its stations is not surprising given similar moves by BP, Shell, and others.

Its shares fell $1.55, or 1.75%, to close at $87.06 in trading yesterday. They’ve traded in a range of $77.55 to $96.12 in the past year.