Great 'disguised Own Brand' Hunt.

Calm-Seas

A Long Long Long Time ago I worked for united biscuits and all there biscuits were the same apart from the wrappings the only extra ingredients put into a biscuit was extra currants in the Garriboldi for M&S.
And if M&S were due a visit to the factory wow did we know it everything had to be spotless.
Dont know if any other companys ever bothered coming around but if they did there was no big cleanup.
I wont mention what else went in the custard creams that shouldnt have done lol dont want to spoil your fav biscuit for you as I am sure it doesnt happen nowadays hmmmmmmmmmmmm.

tobedifferent

About 10 years ago I used to work for Tescos and their own brand Cornish Pasties used to come in Ginsters boxes. There were quite a few other brands where this was the case but this is the only one I can remember as a lady insisted on Ginsters and was not impressed when I opened the box and she saw Tesco Value!

If you really think about it when you look at the number of products available and the number of different suppliers it could not be possible to have individual factories churning out each and everything seperately. I would doubt that it is cost effective for even the recipes to change....

A very interesting book is The Undercover Economists, he talks about the marketing of all the different brands and how it is often the same item in different packaging designed to appeal to each consumer and their own beliefs and values. For example even if a supermarket advertised that one of its value brands was identical to its premium brand a lot of people would still never touch the value brand and buy the premium brand at a massive markup. Coffee shops were used as a good example as to people buying in. I can't remember the authors name - must get the book back from my brother. But its a fascinating read and well worth a look.

I know someone who is swayed by price as more expensive is better. We found 2 identical beds, one at £299 one at £1049, even she could not tell me what the difference was other than she liked the more expensive one more and it was 'clearly better'?! She never questioned anything when it was delivered in a van with the logo of the cheaper beds manufacturer on it. I was 'being ridiculous' apparently when I pointed it out.....

barnaby-bear

B&Q essentials own brand showers are rebranded Mira - the electrician even showed me the internal labels saying we'd bought a good 'un when he installed it. Price about half a Mira.

I'm_With_Stupid

I always have to laugh when people talk about a certain "brand" of computer. I mean I could understand why you'd think that about a TV, or a dishwasher, or a packet of biscuits, but computers actually advertise the brand of all the internal components. The only difference is the case and the warranty. That's why I always just go on reviews when it comes to stuff like this. Two products that look to have the same specs can have completely different performance based on what combination of components are used inside (this goes for all electrical goods).

Incidentally, like someone wrote on the first page (2 years ago), my Hitachi TV has Philips insides too, which is wierd because Hitachi usually supply everyone else.

Slartibardfast_2

The Undercover Economist was written by Tim Harford.

More details on Amazon - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Undercover-Economist-Tim-Harford/dp/0316732931/sr=8-1/qid=1168457840/ref=pd_ka_1/202-6921518-7923836?ie=UTF8&s=books

steveeeee

roses wrote:

I have a very old pair or UFO trainers (£15) which are commonly sold at markets and are now worn out so I bought a pair of genuine Acpuncture trainers (£50) which were similar looking. When I got home I compared the two I found that the shoes were exactly the same from the material, design and even the stitching is absolutely identical.

I would swear on my life that these come from the same production line.

I was told by a friend a few years ago (after whingeing about how my lovely Acupuncture trainers had fallen apart only a year after I'd bought them) that Acupuncture's business model is to pick up batches of shoes from other 'generic' manufacturers and restyle/rebrand them.

mirandamayhem

barnaby-bear wrote:

B&Q essentials own brand showers are rebranded Mira - the electrician even showed me the internal labels saying we'd bought a good 'un when he installed it. Price about half a Mira.

I worked at mira one summer. They were really strict on their quiality control. I was impressed. This was 8 odd years ago now, mind.

steveeeee

charlieheard wrote:

I'm afraid ukbandit is wrong to say that the only difference is the styling. The makes are targeted at different markets (Audi=BMW, VW=Ford(?+), SEAT=Alfa Romeo & Skoda=cheap. To achieve this, the VW group shares engines and floorpans to save costs, but changes the ride quality, interior quality and fittings to suit the market. It's the same with

• Ford - Volvo, Jaguar, Aston Martin & Land Rover are or soon will be sharing engines and/or floorplans
• Vauxhall/Opel - The latest SAABs are based on a Vectra, and though Subaru have left the fold, you can still buy a "SAABaru" in the USA
• Mercedes Benz & Chrysler are now sharing floorpans and engines (Crossfire=SLK)
• VW - you missed out Bentley, Bugatti and Lamborghini which use VW-based engines (and with Bentley even the floorpan)

Don't tell me that a Volvo is the same as a Ford, or a SAAB is the same as a Vauxhall, or a Bentley is the same as a VW.

Ford have owned a 33.4% controlling interest in Mazda since 1996 (and 15% before that) and they have shared a lot of platform, engine, and manufacturing technology in both directions for decades. They also occasionally rebadge each other's cars (eg Mazda 121 vs Ford Fiesta).

The current Mondeo and Jaguar X-Type are built on a tweaked version of the CDW27 platform. The Mazda 6 is built on the CD3 platform which isn't currently used in any other Ford group cars in Europe. NB, the Mazda 6 is similar to the Mondeo and may share some components, but it is built on a different platform using different engines. (I drive a 2004 Mazda 6 1.8 hatchback which I love, though the engine is surprisingly thirsty and in a higher road tax band than I'd like for a 1.8.)

The next Mondeo (due this year) will be built on a platform developed by Ford/Volvo called EUCD, which in turn is based on the Ford/Mazda/Volvo-developed C1 platform (used for Mazda 3, Mazda 5, Ford Focus, Volvo S40, Volvo V50, and Volvo C70). Other cars to be built on EUCD are the Volvo XC60, Volvo S60, Volvo V70, Volvo S80, Ford S-Max, Ford Galaxy, Landrover Freelander, and Mazda Tribute. The C1 and EUCD platforms allow a large number of components to be shared among all cars built on these platforms, which makes them cheaper to build.

The 1.25L, 1.4L, and 1.6L MZI engines (Ford calls them Zetec SE or more recently Duratec) used in Ford Focus and Fiesta models were developed by Mazda and Yamaha. The 2.3L MZR (Ford name: Duratec) unit used in the Mazda 6 Sport, Mazda 6 MPS, and Mazda 3 MPS is also a Mazda creation. Interestingly, Ford/Mazda also have worked with PSA Peugeot Citroën on some of their smaller MZ-CD/Duratorq diesel engines.

Which brings me neatly onto PSA Peugeot Citroën. Peugeot upped their 38.2% stake in Citroën to 89.85% in 1976 when Citroën went bankrupt. PSA have a deal with Fiat under which they make the Citroën C8, Fiat Ulysse, Lancia Phedra, and Peugeot 806/807 minivan and the Citroën Dispatch, Fiat Scudo, and Peugeot Expert light commercial van (all built in France under PSA management). Under another deal with Fiat they make Citroën Relay, Peugeot Boxer, Talbot Express, and Fiat Ducato medium commercial vans in a factory in Italy (under Fiat management).

Volkswagen Audi Group (VAG) cars are built in a similar way, on a small range of platforms. The A platform is used for Audi A3, Audi TT, VW Golf, VW Bora, VW Beetle, VW Touran, Seat Léon, Seat Toledo, Seat Altea, Skoda Octavia. The new VW Passat is based on an enlarged A platform. The B platform is used for Audi A4, and VW Passat (between 1988 and 2005). The Skoda Superb is built on a lengthened B platform. The VW Polo shares a platform with the VW Lupo, Seat Ibiza, Seat Arosa, Skoda Fabia. As someone else said on this thread, Seat and Skoda seem to lag behind VW and Audi in terms of technology. There are more VAG model links but I've already had to rewrite this post once due to a browser crash and I can't be bothered to write any more!

As charlieheard said, just because two cars share the same platform and engine, does not make them the same car. Body work, trim levels, interior layout (eg legroom, headroom), quality of seats, quality of materials, sound proofing, build quality, etc. Manufacturers who share platforms are very keen to distinguish their cars from their partners' cars, and work hard to maintain the signature look/feel/experience of their individual brands.

Edit: oh yeah, the VW Sharan was a joint development between VW and Ford. Ford sell a version of it as the Galaxy and there's also a Seat version, the Alhambra. Again, this is a shared platform, the cars are not identical, though all three are built on the same production line in Portugal and use mostly VW engines, transmissions, and interior parts.

roses

When I went to Aldi last month, I saw lots of chocolate which was identical to Twix, Cadburys Dairy Milk, Mars bar etc. I asked the checkout lady if they were made by Cadburys & Mars but she said no, none of their stuff is made from the large companies.

Not sure if she was right or not as the Twix lookalike tasted exactly the same.

FannyHill

Well she would say that wouldn't she ????