Yes, mitsu prob buys from the lowest bidder... The lowest bidder to meet their specs. So the question is what those specs are. The next question is what specs the aftermarket comunity demands and are they the same as oem.
Using the lowest bidder isn't bad. Neither is using Chinese suppliers. Its all about what specs you demand. (I own a Chinese made katana, hand forged to top notch specs. Its absolutely top notch)
Like imagine the lowest bidder to supply engines for a Bentley. The cheapest option for world class. Make sense.
Having worked for an OEM supplier to GM, I will testify first hand that "meeting specs" is more than a little bit involved. The level of testing and documentation is amazing. Qualification included temperature cycle, vibration, ESD and EMI and corner testing.
We even used Fords DFMA program ( kind of weird because we were told to use it by GM).
That said, we often would know where improvements could be made but you could not get them qualified in time to make the cut off for that model year. If the original design met specs and we were at the cutoff, that was it... You would have to get the changes into the next design cycle.
Any company supplying to OEM's is going to have the similar quality programs in place. There are always exceptions (a redesigned aftermarket part that addresses a problem) but in general, the OEM holds your feet to the fire the hardest. We had regular audits and GM did a lot of testing during development and would often come back asking for improvements.
