Mikeyc said:
I have to disagree with you to some extent. The only reason why people know really is because someone found out and told everyone basically. Toyota for example does not advertise or inform the public in any way that they own the Lexus brand. Until recently, I would say they went above and beyond to conceal that fact by extensively redesigning the exterior. In fact, I know many people who are not "car people" who still have no idea that Lexus is a sub-brand of Toyota or the Infiniti and Acura are sub-brands of Nissan and Honda respectively.
Your kidding right? Toyota is very proud to be the owner of Lexus and in fact early Lexus models had Toyota etched into all the glass.
Now lets all step back to when Saturn came out and GM flat out refused to acknowledge that they were the financial and engineering backer for them. Now that was a ruse!
Yes there is a lot of rebranding out there. I just watched a show called "Why Wlamrt is bad for the economy". In that show one fo the segments was a Chinese TV manufacturer that made TV's for no less than 7 brands we find in the US. All the same guts, just different boxes, stickers, and prices.
Many companies rebrand thier own stuff. It's up to the consumer to make a determination as to what is what. I'm sure there are microfibers that are rebranded and sold at a higher price. There are probably waxes, polishes, and even rubber bands that are rebranded. It's not a conspirecy, it's just business. As a consumer we all need to open our eyes and realize that just becaue it's not a name brand, doesn't mean that it might not be a high quality item.
We all need to find the similar or comparable products and let our fellow Autopians know. As posted earlier, this hobby can get pretty expensive. If I can save a few bucks and buy 24 MFs at Sams Club for $9 I'm going to do it.
Lets not all lose our marbles over this... if you do you'll end up
wearing one of these