"It is like BMW switching to Toyota engines and putting a little sticker on the dashboard that says Powered by Lexus. How long will BMW last when that happens?"
Unfortunately, that analogy just doesn't work in the car industry. People will still buy the BMW because it is a BMW.
To back it up, I'll give you a two real world examples, both to do with another car Manufacturer - Porsche.
When Dr Ferdinand Porsche first created his company, his Porsche 64 was created using many parts from the VW Beetle.
From my personal experience, back in 2002, I was helping my brother strip down his 1986 Porsche 944 turbo to be raced in 03.
While pulling the car down, I noticed that many of the parts were manufactured by Audi and VW (which admittedly owns Audi). Even while we were stripping the sound proofing material off the body, I found out that the body of the car was manufactured by Audi, which to me was very surprising (given the body was one of the main selling points of the car at the time, even Mazda ripped off the design for the RX7).
If I had to give a rough breakdown in parts, I would have said that particular model was a 3-way split when it came to who's parts were in the car.
As for Porsche's company performance, they are one of the strongest car brands worldwide and definitely one of the most profitable, in 07 having made 5.8 Billion Euro profit off of 7.3 Billion Euro in revenue.
Currently, the only thing that is causing them headaches is their financial acrobatics, not the fact that their cars are made out of other manufacturer's parts.
So unfortunately, your analogy just doesn't hold up.
Things made in the same place aren't necessarily made to the same standards. I once packed strawberries - for the major supermarkets in the UK and for M&S in the same packing line. The M&S quality standards were higher, we removed more "uglies" and used more evenly sized strawberries.
or - Your 130 thousand dollar automobile is made by the same people who make your kids 15 thousand dollar automobile.
It would turn a lot of people off Porsche and boost VW's brand image.
I think many people are aware that major brands OEM parts from all over.
But there isn't a sticker on the dashboard saying one of the most expensive parts is from a specific maker.
My main point is that Yahoo is transferring a lot of brand equity to Bing. If there was no Bing branding on the SERPs then this would be much less of an issue.
And really, some hackers pop the hood and look at engines but really do most people? Do most people even know how to change their own oil or even bother to?
I think we're disconnected on this because my point is that branding Yahoo results pages with the Bing logo is horrible for Yahoo.
And yes, while luxury brands use many parts not specifically made by them, they do not promote another brand who is a competitor.
Another analogy maybe? If the Apple iPhone had a splash screen that said "Powered by Microsoft" it would harm the brand. Apple knows this and while my mac is powered by Intel, there's never any "Intel Inside" branding.
Unfortunately, that analogy just doesn't work in the car industry. People will still buy the BMW because it is a BMW.
To back it up, I'll give you a two real world examples, both to do with another car Manufacturer - Porsche.
When Dr Ferdinand Porsche first created his company, his Porsche 64 was created using many parts from the VW Beetle.
From my personal experience, back in 2002, I was helping my brother strip down his 1986 Porsche 944 turbo to be raced in 03.
While pulling the car down, I noticed that many of the parts were manufactured by Audi and VW (which admittedly owns Audi). Even while we were stripping the sound proofing material off the body, I found out that the body of the car was manufactured by Audi, which to me was very surprising (given the body was one of the main selling points of the car at the time, even Mazda ripped off the design for the RX7).
If I had to give a rough breakdown in parts, I would have said that particular model was a 3-way split when it came to who's parts were in the car.
As for Porsche's company performance, they are one of the strongest car brands worldwide and definitely one of the most profitable, in 07 having made 5.8 Billion Euro profit off of 7.3 Billion Euro in revenue.
Currently, the only thing that is causing them headaches is their financial acrobatics, not the fact that their cars are made out of other manufacturer's parts.
So unfortunately, your analogy just doesn't hold up.