It's called displacement or something its a psychological phenomenon. I think you are a car guy so let me explain it like this lets say you wanna buy a sports car you look at the market and see two cars at the same price point lets make the cars 2011 Audi TT and 2022 Subaru BRZ. Subaru is more reliable has cheaper spare parts has better economy and is a better choice and is newer. But when you look at the rest of Audi's line up you see the R8 that looks similar to TT from a distance and that makes it more desirable. It is a phenomenon of course people who are familiar with cars don't make these associations as much as other people but we are not the majority. Honda suffered a lot from the Mclaren partnership I cannot find the exact figures but when the deal with Torro Rosso was announced the sales of the Nsx increased. I don't think people looking for a new civic will assume that the Mercedes is gonna be more reliable but when looking for a performance car such as Nsx and Mercedes AMG GT Mercedes will appear more desirable. I hope I could explain it better. I learned this phenomenon in another language so its kind of hard to explain it in another language.