Trump tariffs slow Hyundai 7-year warranty plan

The Trump tariffs haven’t only delayed global sign-off on Hyundai’s dual-cab ute but also the Australian sign-off on a move from a five- to seven-year new vehicle warranty.

But outspoken new Hyundai Australia CEO Don Romano – who pledged in May to introduce the upgraded warranty and backdate it to January 1 – is still hopeful it will still happen this year.

Romano told carsales he wanted to announce details of the warranty overhaul at the second-generation Palisade large SUV’s Australian launch in October.

He’s also planning to reveal a promised new over-arching marketing message for the brand, essentially a Hyundai equivalent to Mazda’s signature ‘Zoom Zoom’ or BMW’s ‘Ultimate Driving Machine’ – something that’s been on the cards since May: “We [Hyundai] are the best kept secret out there,” he said at the time.

Both the warranty and the slogan are part of Romano’s larger renewal plan for Hyundai Australia that aims for a return to 100,000 sales per annum.

Romano has been startlingly honest about what he sees as the shortfalls of Hyundai Australia’s performance since he joined in April.

Recently and unprompted, he told journalists the company has been doing a “terrible job” of selling EVs.

Once a rarity, seven-year/unlimited-kilometre transferrable warranties have become increasingly common in Australia, with some brands now stretching to 10 years.

Romano said the warranty upgrade was “in a holding pattern” because of negotiations between South Korea and the USA over import tariff rates.

President Trump had threatened to impose a 25 per cent tariff on Soth Korea, but a 15 per cent agreement has more recently been announced.

“We still have to work out some of the finer details. But you can imagine these things are massively expensive,” said Romano.

“I do have the support of the dealers on an initial plan that we put together. And I do have the support of our headquarters. But everything’s put in a holding pattern right now.

“I am hopeful and I feel pretty confident we’ll get this all resolved this year.

“And I would like to have it resolved for that big launch [Palisade] that we were talking about.”

By contrast, Romano was emphatic the new over-arching marketing message would be rolled out at Palisade.

“It’ll be big,” Romano told carsales. “That’s all I can say. It’ll be big. When you come to the Palisade launch, we’ll reveal it at that time.

“I think we have to have a very clear, singular message to differentiate our brand from the other 80 that are out there.

“There’s enough going on out there to where customers have no idea who stands for what. And I think if you don’t have a singular, strong message, you’re cutting yourself short.

“And you have to, I think, to survive in a market this competitive with that many brands, you have to have a very focused and very clear message.

“If it changes with every event that you have and it changes every three to four months, you’re going to get lost in the clutter.

“So to stand out, we have to have a strong message that not only us, but our dealers and their local marketing and our promotions can all rally behind. And we will be unveiling that with the next big product launch.”

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