Many of our white goods appliances are no longer made by the companies shown on the logo. They have been taken over by bigger companies. Often these companies have a different ethos, and different quality standards.
The result is that many famous brands, with a longstanding reputation for quality and longevity, are now very different appliances indeed. 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.
Buying a different brand could mean getting the same product
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 without realising it 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
An example of this is Hoover and Candy. They used to be totally different companies, but are now both owned by the Candy group. However, at least the company has rebranded itself as Hoover Candy so everyone knows. There is a lot less difference between these two brands than there used to be these days. The Hoover brand is expected to be slightly better made at a slightly higher price. Both brands are repaired by the same engineers.
Similarly, Hotpoint, Indesit and Creda are all owned by the same company. There isn’t a significant difference between these washing machines either. Hotpoint tends to have better “features” and options.
Eventually, all washing machines are likely to be made by just a handful of companies. 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. Other examples are Neff who make Neff, Bosch, and Siemens. Electrolux make Electrolux, AEG and Zanussi
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