What will end Briggs is the dealers having issues with parts availability. Dealers waiting on parts for months will make dealers skittish about selling or recommending Briggs engines. Everybody seems to think that the Briggs parts issues started recently and they tried to blame it on the Pandemic but in reality dealers have been seeing issues since 2017. Then they didn't even admit there was an issue until 2019 when they tried to blame that on software update issues.I don't see Briggs going away anytime soon in the US at least. Even if they were to start cutting parts availability for old engines, we're talking about a current model here, not something made 50 years ago. The big block Vanguards are excellent engines in my experience and I would take one over a Kawasaki. Just my opinion, and no I'm not a Briggs dealer, just like their Vanguard engines.
Late last summer I almost bought a new Scag Turf Tiger with 35 hp B&S engine. I'm OK with my late model Scag with Kohler EFI, just wanted more horsepower. I decided not to trade in for the new one as I was concerned about B&S bankruptcy, possible parts and repair issues in the future. Also, why is the company in bankruptcy? A poor product that is not being bought/used by equipment manufacturers?