That is probably the other part of the equation. I never buy a guitar because of the stock pickups. I buy it because of how it plays, then I put the pickups that I like in it.
Hell, the last 10 years I was playing, I had the same pickups in every guitar. The bridge pup from a strat in the neck position and my special humbucker in the bridge. That configuration was in 2 les Paul's, a vee, an Explorer, 2 iceman's (icemen?) An SG and a warlock.
The guitars still sounded different (Iceman were much brighter than the explorers), but the amp reacted the same to them.