I didn't think the Whirlpool-Maytag merger was that early!
My sister had a Sears Kenmore pair, where one of the machines was German made. She kept a maintenance agreement on them. Had the door gasket on it replaced twice.

I'm pretty sure Whirlpool closed down the Newton plant in 2007. Maytag (before the Whirlpool take over) actually manufactured two completely different lines of laundry equipment. The Newton, Iowa plant (their original) turned out the regular Maytag "Dependable Care" line and commercial coin-op machines. When Maytag bought out Norge, they kept the laundry plant in Herrin, Illinois. The Illinois plant turned out Norge, Crosley, Admiral, Magic Chef, and Performa brands. Sadly, Whirlpool shut it down, too. Even the low end stuff from the Herrin plant had an edge on Whirlpool (belt drive, 3/4 h.p. motors, 22 lb. capacity), but the plant was old and needed updating.

Took place in 2006. The Neptune product line basically did the company in.

It was just in the news this week where they want to tear down the GM Janesville, Wi plant. GM spent around 170 Million on updates before closing it down. Corporate thinking! :thumbsdn:

That was just one nail in the coffin. The Maytag product line always sold for a little more money, but they had a lot of repeat ownership.
That's why Whirlpool didn't drop the branding.

I think it was a Hotpoint, not sure where it was made, would be 1960's/early 70's Mam had it. IIRC there were 3 popular makes of twintubs = Hotpoint, Service & Hoover..

In the US, the Hotpoint line is the slightly lower priced GE appliance line. They even sold Hotpoint TV's for a few years. Rebadged GE's.
The British Hotpoint line used the same logo as our products, so there must be a connection. There were radios made in Australia badged Hotpoint. :scratch2: