BMW won’t be following arch-rivals Audi and Mercedes-Benz in increasing its warranty coverage.
“BMW Group Australia has no plans to change its warranty offering at this point,” said a spokesperson for the company.
That’s despite Audi announcing this morning it was the latest luxury brand to adopt a five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty in Australia.
This leaves BMW as one of the vanishing few luxury brands in Australia to not offer such a warranty.
Its warranty offering is currently a three-year, unlimited-kilometre term, and the same warranty is provided across the Mini range.
Maserati and Porsche also back their cars with a three-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty, while Alfa Romeo has only a three-year, 150,000km warranty.
With the exception of exotic marques like Bentley and Ferrari, however, BMW’s key rivals have all moved to a five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty.
That includes Mercedes-Benz, Lexus, Genesis, Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo, with Audi announcing today its introduction of a five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty on all cars sold after January 1, 2022.
While BMW hasn’t increased its warranty coverage, late last year it introduced a new tiered ownership program, Beyond, for both the BMW and Mini brands.
The first tier is standard with all new models, and includes the aforementioned warranty plus roadside assistance and access to digital services through the My BMW or Mini mobile applications.
The second tier gives owners a 20 per cent discount on genuine parts at BMW workshops, plus a servicing package across the range.
The company said in October it’ll announce more packages and tiers.
MORE: BMW and Mini launch Beyond ownership program
Though its warranty offering can’t match Mercedes-Benz’s, that didn’t stop BMW from being Australia’s second best-selling luxury brand in 2021 – if still behind its rival from Stuttgart.
BMW sold 24,891 vehicles in Australia last year, behind Mercedes-Benz Cars (28,348) but ahead of Audi (16,003), Lexus (9290) and Volvo (9028).
The luxury car market has been lagging behind mainstream brands on the warranty front.
MORE: VFACTS: Premium brands grow in 2021
Hyundai Australia first moved from its three-year to a five-year warranty in 1999, and has stuck with it since.
Honda, Jeep and Skoda launched five-year warranties in 2017, followed by Ford, Mazda and Volkswagen in 2018. Subaru and Toyota also launched five-year warranty programs early in 2019.
Seven-year warranties are the new front in the mainstream car market, led by Kia’s introduction of one in 2014. MG and SsangYong have since followed suit.
Mitsubishi is the only manufacturer that currently beats Kia’s seven-year warranty by offering a 10-year/200,000km warranty program.
New Mitsubishi vehicles all receive 10 years of warranty coverage and 10 years of capped-price servicing.
There’s a catch though, as these new Mitsubishi vehicles need to be serviced at a certified Mitsubishi dealer for the 10-year warranty period to count.
The warranty period is shortened to five-years/100,000km if you service outside the dealer network.
