I think Misterlift may have missed out on seeing the brands disappearances in the US Auto industry as the "cure" for the US auto industry, only a few years ago. (Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Saturn, Hummer, Plymouth all disappeared in only a few months, with not much change in the number of overall cars on the road or amount of commercials selling new vehicles in the media)
While Misterlift's observation would be correct in a true "free market", I think we can say that because those "obvious universal truths of a free market" do not hold up, that we are not in a true 'free market*'.
If the end user was the actual driving force of the market the manufacturers are selling to and manufacturing for, then having more sales channels would make sense, but as (it appears to me) the manufacturers view the distributors as their market, then to please the customer (the distributor, not the end user), having less brands and less competition makes the product more likely to be seen as having unique selling advantages.

* we do not have a 'true free market', IMHO, as free markets expect and require limited supply and unlimited desire/demand. However, due to limited demand, not limited supply, our market forces have become skewed, and not -just- in the powered industrial truck markets.