Toyota resists pressure to extend factory warranty

Mazda’s decision to extend its new car warranty to five years in Australia has piled more pressure on rivalling manufacturers to follow suit.

However, there remains some resistance; from one car-maker in particular.

Toyota, Nissan and Volkswagen are the only manufacturers inside Australia’s top 10 sellers to persist with outdated three-year schemes, after Ford, Holden and this week Mazda upped their warranty coverage to five years – in what is increasingly becoming industry standard.

Number 11 on the top sellers list, Subaru, has also fallen behind rivals with a three-year scheme.

Volkswagen has already confirmed it is “looking hard” at a five-year scheme, and Subaru has dabbled in extended promotions.

However the case is less clear-cut for Toyota.

Today, Toyota Australia public affairs manager Brodie Bott said the car-maker would not follow Mazda’s lead.

“At this stage, Toyota Australia has no plans to extend its warranty for new vehicles,” he said.

Meanwhile, Nissan Australia said it was re-assessing its warranty.

“We are continually monitoring the Australian market to ensure we understand and deliver on the needs of our existing and prospective customers," said spokeswoman Karla Leach.

"This review process does include warranty, along with a variety of other aspects related to buying and owning a vehicle.”

Subaru Australia spokesman David Rowley said the car-maker would continue with a three-year program for now.

“Warranty is something that we continue to evaluate and, as you have seen, we do run occasional five-year promotional periods. But at this stage there’s no immediate plan to change from the current three-year/unlimited kilometre [scheme],” he said.

Speaking from the launch of the new Tiguan AllSpace today, Volkswagen’s general manager of corporate communications, Paul Pottinger, said there is ongoing consideration for a five-year warranty scheme.

Volkswagen's sister brand, Skoda, already offers a five year scheme, on vehicles that mostly share platforms and mechanicals.

“Our biggest business challenge remains obtaining sufficient supply to meet demand. We see Volkswagen customers responding to our driveaway pricing and finance offers. We do not detect the same interest in five year warranty, though we are looking hard at this,” Pottinger said.

“We work closely with dealers to resolve any issue that customers might encounter after the expiration of their warranty. Another sign of confidence is that Volkswagen customers continue to order high-specification vehicles.”

Despite its move to a five-year scheme, Mazda remains behind key rivals including Volkswagen on servicing intervals.

Every new model Mazda sells requires servicing every 10,000km or 12 months in order to keep the new car warranty intact – despite the fact the average Australian distance travelled is 15,000km annually.

Toyota is further behind on this count, with archaic six-month/10,000km servicing intervals, while Nissan’s services are set at every 12 months/10,000km.

The luxury market in Australia has also resisted the move to longer warranties, with many citing the fact that business customers tend to trade their vehicles in after three years.

Conversely, other manufacturers – most notably Kia (seven years) and Hyundai (five years) – have cashed in on their longstanding extended warranties and servicing intervals, winning over droves of customers and helping effect change in the Australian car industry.