Subaru extends new-vehicle warranty to five years

SUBARU Australia has brought in the New Year by announcing that all of its new vehicles sold from January 1 will come with a standard five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty, leaving Toyota and Nissan as the only two top-10-selling brands left with three-year guarantees.

While Subaru Australia previously offered its models with a three-year/unlimited-kilometre peace-of-mind agreement, it often sold them with five years of coverage as part of several sales promotions held in recent years.

This move has also resulted in Subaru Australia extending its capped-price servicing program from three to five years, with this offer available to owners who service their vehicles at an authorised dealership and respect their recommended service intervals.

According to Subaru Australia managing director Colin Christie, an extensive review led to the improved warranty, which follows the brand’s ‘Subaru do’ customer-focused approach.

“Subaru has long been renowned for great engineering, durability, and whole-of-life ownership experience, and this latest move to five-year warranty and capped-price servicing offers yet more peace-of-mind for our customers, who are among the most loyal in the Australian automotive industry,” he said.

“While we have had periods of promotional five-year warranty on some models in recent times, this development offers our customers consistency right across the range.”

The timing of Subaru Australia’s announcement could play a key role in reversing its sales decline, with the brand this week expected to report its first annual volume loss after a run of six consecutive records.

To the end of November last year, Subaru Australia sold 46,565 vehicles – a 3.7 per cent decrease over the 48,379 deliveries it made during the same period in 2017.

As mentioned, Toyota and Nissan have maintained their three-year warranties heading into 2019, with the former’s guarantee covering 100,000km, while the latter’s agreement is unlimited.

This persistence has created an unusual situation between Subaru and Toyota, which sell the co-developed and -built BRZ and 86 sportscars respectively.

The twins under the skin are almost identical in looks, mechanics, pricing and specification, but the BRZ now has a significant edge over the 86 when it comes to aftersales.

As reported, market leader Toyota Australia has no plans to extend its coverage, citing the reliability, durability and quality of its vehicles, meaning this divide between the BRZ and 86 could continue indefinitely.

Peugeot and Citroen (February), Tesla (April), Ford (May), Holden (July), Mazda (August), SsangYong (September) and Volkswagen (December) were among the brands to announce warranty extensions in a busy 2018.