Melvin, I can attest to Sears selling Amana badged SQ washers in the late '90s. That's where we got our '97 Amana pair. I remember checking out the Maytag Atlantis first and seeing that it didn't bear any resemblance to a real Newton machine. The WP/Kemore machines were flimsy DD types. I wanted no part of either of them. The Amanas were on sale, they had shiny stainless tubs and were quite sturdy in comparison, so that was that.
Little did I know that the tinny lightweight DD machines would be less trouble, but I'm a sucker for build quality and long stroke agitation. There was no AW site back then. I subscribed to CR and used their ratings as my guide. At that time the Amanas were top rated (live and learn). I know I would have been really pissed as soon as a new WP/KM/MT began agitation if we had bought one of those, and certainly would have returned it.