Question of the day: Does a manufacturer’s strength lie in making their own engines for their cars?

Or does it really matter?

We have been doing a lot of stories over the past month or so on car makers out-sourcing engines or tying up with others to share technology and develop engines together.

One fine example would be Fiat’s Multijet engine which finds/will find application in cars made by GM, Tata, Suzuki and Opel.

As a customer of a particular car, do you really bother who manufactures the engine that powers it? When the displacement and power output of the engine satisfies your needs, do you still think twice before buying a car that houses an engine which comes from another brand’s production line?