BMW is now offering a five-year warranty across its BMW, BMW Motorrad, and Mini brands in Australia.
The move comes two-and-a-half years after Mercedes-Benz upped its three-year warranty to five, a move since followed by Volvo, Audi, Lexus, Jaguar Land Rover, and Alfa Romeo.
BMW Australia told media “Australia is now a five-year warranty market”. The new warranty officially came into force on November 1, although it’ll be applied retroactively to vehicles registered after October 1, 2022.
It’s a significant reversal of course, given the brand has previously said its customers aren’t concerned about the length of its warranty in defending its three-year coverage.
BMW is currently the second-best selling luxury brand in Australia. To date in 2022 it has sold 20,104 cars, around 3000 behind Mercedes-Benz Cars.
How the Australian car market has moved to a five-year warranty
Hyundai Australia first moved from its three-year to a five-year warranty in 1999, and has stuck with it since.
Honda and Jeep 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, SsangYong, and Skoda 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.
In the luxury world, Genesis launched in Australia with a five-year warranty in 2019, while Mercedes-Benz Australia upped its three-year warranty to five years in 2020. It was followed by Volvo in the same year.
Jaguar Land Rover jumped in 2021, as did Lexus, while Audi made the leap in January 2022. Alfa Romeo followed in the middle of 2022.
