BMW now the only Top 20 brand in Australia with three-year warranty after Audi steps up to five

BMW is now the only car company in the Top 20 to not offer more than three years warranty in Australia – after rival Audi today switched to five-year coverage 22 years and one month after budget brand Hyundai pioneered the concept.

Audi has belatedly introduced a five-year warranty five years after affiliated brand Volkswagen and six years after Skoda launched extended coverage in Australia.

BMW, which ranked 13th on the new-car sales charts last year, is the biggest-selling automotive brand in Australia to persist with a three-year warranty.

All other car companies in the Top 20 in Australia offer five, six, or seven-year warranty coverage.

Only a handful of automotive brands continue to offer a three-year warranty in Australia, such as Ram, Porsche, Fiat, Mini, Bentley, Lamborghini, Ferrari, and McLaren.

Meanwhile, brands such as Kia, MG, GWM Haval, and Ssangyong offer seven-year warranty coverage in Australia.

When asked why it does not match what is increasingly becoming the industry norm, BMW Australia representatives have previously said a five-year warranty was not a priority for customers.

A statement issued by BMW Australia today said the company has "no plans to change its warranty offering at this point."

After becoming the second car maker in Australia to launch a five-year warranty – in December 2004 – Mitsubishi claimed to be the first manufacturer to offer a 10-year warranty across the range, from October 2020.

However, the Mitsubishi coverage is in fact a five-year warranty, with the option of another five years if the vehicle is only ever serviced within the Mitsubishi dealer network. 

If a Mitsubishi customer does not service the vehicle within the dealer network at any time in the five- or 10-year period, it is not eligible for the extended coverage.

The ACCC says it is monitoring the rollout of the Mitsubishi scheme against the backdrop of a push for fairer access to routine maintenance by independent repairers.

In April 2020, Audi offered a five-year warranty on selected models as a limited promotion until the end of June 2020.

In January 2022, Audi finally made five-year warranty permanent across its range in Australia, the second-last Top 20 brand to do so.

A timeline of changes to new-vehicle warranties in Australia over the past 20 years is listed below.

Hyundai was the first brand in Australia to offer a five-year warranty across the range, introducing the extended coverage in 1999.

Mitsubishi was second with permanent factory-backed five-year coverage, from December 2004.

Isuzu launched a five-year/130,000km warranty on its D-Max ute in January 2013 and the MU-X SUV gained the same coverage when it was introduced in November 2013.

Renault introduced a five-year warranty on passenger cars – but not sports models or vans – in April 2011. The French brand added a five-year/200,000km warranty to commercial vehicles from July 2020.

Hyundai’s sister brand Kia introduced a permanent factory-backed seven-year warranty across the range from October 2014.

Jeep launched its 'There & Back Guarantee' five-year warranty in February 2017.

Volkswagen’s sister brand Skoda moved to a five-year warranty in January 2017.

Honda introduced a five-year warranty in July 2017, and has from time to time done monthly sales campaigns offering seven-year coverage on selected models.

Citroen adopted a six-year warranty in July 2014 but that coverage was wound back to three years in November 2017 after a change of distributor in Australia.

However, following a backlash, the importer of Citroen and its sister brand Peugeot increased warranty from three years to five years/unlimited kilometres on all models except vans (which have five year/200,000km coverage) from February 2018.

The roster of car companies moving to five-year warranties in 2018 included Ford (May), Holden (July), Mazda (August), and Volkswagen (December).

As part of its relaunch, emerging Korean car maker Ssangyong boosted warranty coverage from five years to seven in September 2018.

In December 2018 Mitsubishi added seven-year/150,000km warranty to the Triton ute (up from five years/unlimited kilometres) as a special offer, but it effectively became permanent on the Triton and most other Mitsubishi models through to the end of September 2020 (before switching to five-plus-five years coverage in October 2020).

Subaru and Toyota introduced five-year warranty coverage in January 2019 while Nissan finally rounded out the Top 10 brands by adopting five-year coverage in April 2019, to coincide with the start of the Japanese financial year.

Chinese car maker MG added seven-year warranty to selected SUV models in November 2017, while its older passenger cars retained six-year coverage. However, MG switched to a permanent seven-year warranty across the range in March 2019.

In May 2019, Isuzu Ute Australia increased warranty coverage from five years/130,000km to six years/150,000km for its D-Max and MU-X models.

In October 2019, Suzuki increased its warranty from three years/100,000km to five years/unlimited kilometres.

In August 2018, Hyundai Australia executives told media the company was considering increasing its warranty coverage beyond five years, in response to other brands eroding what was once a marketing advantage. It has since experimented with seven-year warranty on selected models in monthly promotions.

In September 2019, Renault offered a seven-year warranty on selected models for a limited time and repeated the offer in April 2020.

In October 2019, Hyundai introduced a seven-year warranty across most of its model range from the beginning of October to the end of December 2019, and then intermittently applied the offer to selected models in the first half of 2020. As this article was published, Hyundai said it had no plans to move to a permanent seven-year warranty across its entire range.

In December 2019, despite growing pressure to increase its warranty from three years to five, luxury brand BMW said it has no plans to adopt longer coverage. Less than six months later it would be the only mainstream luxury badge not to introduce five-year coverage either as a permanent or special offer.

In March 2020 Mercedes-Benz introduced a five-year warranty across its entire car, SUV, AMG, ute and van ranges. 

In April 2020 Jaguar Land-Rover announced it would experiment with five-year warranty for a limited time, to the end of June 2020. But then it extended the offer to the end of September 2020. Now, the manufacturer offers a five-year warranty across the range.

In April 2020, Audi offered a five-year warranty on selected models as a limited promotion until the end of June 2020. In the same month, Swedish car maker Volvo announced it would introduce a five-year warranty across the range permanently. 

In October 2020, Mitsubishi claimed to be the first manufacturer in Australia to offer a 10-year warranty across the range.

However, it came with a catch. The Mitsubishi coverage is in fact a five-year warranty, with the option of another five years if the vehicle is only serviced within the Mitsubishi dealer network.