BMW: Our customers don't want a longer warranty

BMW has defended its three-year warranty in Australia and is adamant that luxury buyers are not interested in “the marketing benefit” of extended factory provisions.

Vikram Pawah, the Australia chief executive for BMW, says the recent trend of mainstream marques automatically extending their warranty to five years has had no tangible impact on luxury brands, which still largely employ three-year aftersales provisions.

Speaking at the launch of the new $270,000 BMW 8 Series this month, Pawah implied that only when “my customer starts telling me they’re not happy with the durability of my product – which they are, actually,” would he consider extending BMW’s warranty in Australia.

“What the customers are really looking for is that the product’s durable, it survives a long time and if something goes wrong the manufacturer’s there to support it, which we do,” he said.

“Warranty, whether it’s three years or five years, is simply a matter of whether the product is durable and it’s what the customer is asking for.”

Buying a prestige model doesn’t mean you get a lavish warranty to go with it – in fact, all but a handful provide a three-year warranty (with unlimited kilometres for Audi, Bentley, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche, and a 100,000km maximum for Jaguar and Maserati).

The exceptions to this are Infiniti, Lexus and Rolls-Royce, which provide a four-year warranty (with unlimited kilometres for Rolls-Royce and a 100,000km limit for Infiniti and Lexus).

Then there’s Tesla, which in April extended its warranty in Australia to eight years or 160,000km in April, while Ferrari’s warranty stands at seven years.

Audi, BMW and Porsche also cover body corrosion for 12 years. Audi also covers the A3 e-tron battery for eight years/160,000km, while BMW covers the i3 and i8 batteries for eight years/100,000km.

Most of the prestige brands (and some mainstream brands) do provide extended factory-backed warranties but you have to pay extra for them, so it pays to check the fine print and shop around.

For BMW, a three-year warranty fits in with fleet and company car buyers, who typically part ways with their vehicles every three years.

“I believe in offering real value to the customer instead of just a marketing benefit,” Vikram said of warranty.

“There’s no plans to [extend our warranty]. It’s not an issue for us, like I said.

“I can see clearly that we are able to offer value to our customers with a durable product that is packaged well, priced well and gives them the confidence of using the product in any environment.

“So I think that’s what I aim at instead of looking at what other people are doing.”