Many washing machines are no longer made by the companies shown on the logo, or they have been taken over by bigger companies with a different ethos. These global companies usually keep the old brand name for tactical marketing reasons. In a way, it shouldn't matter who makes which brand, but there is a concern that should be considered.
If a customer is very unhappy with a washing machine, or the service provided by its service network, they are likely to want to avoid purchasing from that company again, but they may well end up buying virtually the exact same washing machine with a different logo – repaired by the same service engineers. Therefore knowing who makes and owns which brand can be helpful in making buying decisions.
Appliance manufacturers who make different brands
Examples of this are Hoover and Candy, who used to be totally different companies, but are now both owned by the Candy group. However, there is a lot less difference between these two brands than there used to be these days, and the guarantee repair work is carried out by the same engineers.
Similarly, Hotpoint, Indesit and Creda are all owned by the same company and there isn’t a lot of difference between these washing machines either, with Hotpoint having better “features” and options.
Eventually, all washing machines are likely to be made by just a handful of companies and in fact we aren’t that far off from this scenario already. Note that some brands retain all their original differences but are just owned by a rival company and some are virtually the same machine inside with different logos and trimmings.
LG have launched what they call “smart diagnosis” technology on some of their white goods appliances in the UK, which it claims will revolutionise after-sales service. Will it? Or is it pure marketing spiel?
I just searched for the app (in the UK) on my iPhone. I was presented with an LG smart diagnosis app but with all the writing in Korean (I presume) and not a single review. This was enough to stop me downloading it, but on second thoughts I decided to download it anyway only to find it totally in English after all.
This subject is relevant to white goods because it’s now used as a well established marketing tool employed by all manufacturers and it shapes how many of our household appliances are designed and marketed. Although I haven’t written a direct article on this topic before I’ve long since been a sceptic about man-made climate change and wrote a lengthy article recently entitled, 
For some reason the recycling costs imposed by the government (designed to force manufacturers to reduce the amount of waste they create) penalises the appliance manufacturers that make high quality appliances the most. I know the WEEE scheme is a complicated subject and I’m sure it does some good somewhere but it seems that if you make a really high quality domestic appliance that can last 20 years or more (which you would have thought would be extremely good for the environment) you have to pay much more through the WEEE Legislation than a company making a real cheap-tack appliance that may only last several years at best.
Domestic appliances made mostly of metal, and using higher quality metal, are also more recyclable than ones made mostly of plastic and cheap alloys. But because they inevitably weigh much more the manufacturers are penalised. How is this supposed to encourage better quality and longer lasting appliances that can be more easily recycled in a more environmentally friendly manner?
If you make a high-quality product it naturally costs a lot more than the cheap rubbish. Manufacturers of high-quality products already have to sell at much higher prices than their competitors and rely on a minority of people being discerning enough to appreciate the value of investing in their product. They do not need additional costs, taxes or penalties to make their products even more expensive. Shouldn’t the government be encouraging manufacturers and consumers to make and buy high quality appliances and not penalise with extra costs?