Couple of things to touch on:
- OEM will sometimes use a part number (By which they stock it and sell it as this number) and an engineering number (usually has no reference point to the dealer). Chief example of this is Ford, box says the part number and sticker or engraving on the parts says the engineering number and they do not match, save for the callout number in the middle.
- Wholesalers hound dealerships trying to sell their fastest moving items (Filters, keys, transmitters, etc), they are tempted with lower purchase costs and the prospect of gift cards or iPads if they agree to buy X amount now. These wholesale parts come in either a white box, OEM-equivalent (Sometimes, lol) part in the box or they come in genuine OEM box and OEM-equivalent (Again, sometimes, lol) part in the box.
To expound on that sometimes part, my predecessor here bought 50 air filters for Chevy Equinoxs from such a wholesaler. Came in the AC Delco box, but the filter inside was not designed right, top right corner was cut too short, leaving a gap between the edge of the filter and the air box cover causing a leak.
We all like to beat our chest and say 'Nothing trumps OE' but if your local dealer has a parts manager taking bribes to stock sub-standard filters, the quality of filter you are paying for is even less than that of your cheapest AutoZone filter.
So I recommend hitting up your local parts store and using a known OEM-supplier brand, Purolator, Wix, Mahle, Mann, etc
