Kia's seven-year warranty key to brand's appeal

Price is no longer the top reason people buy a new car from the growing Kia brand.

Instead, it’s Kia’s industry-leading seven-year, unlimited kilometre new car warranty, something Kia Australia chief operating officer Damien Meredith says has changed the perception of the carmaker and “gave people permission to look at our brand”.

“Our research also showed us that we went from price [being the number one reason to purchase a Kia] to warranty,” says Meredith, adding that “there’s a huge comfort factor” with such a long warranty.

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He said offering additional peace of mind for new-car buyers chasing value has pushed design and styling higher up on the list of considerations.

“The big change has been that flop from price, which was very, very high, down to number three – and warranty and design [being first and second respectively in purchase considerations]”.

The industry standard for warranties has long been three years or 100,000km.

Kia’s sister brand, Hyundai, was one of the first to break that, opting for a five-year warranty.

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That’s since been matched by others including Mitsubishi and Renault, with Citroen offering six-year coverage.

Other brands have offered factory-backed extended warranties as short term sales incentives, while some are considering warranties longer than three years.

But others argue there is no need for a headline warranty number because Australian consumer law often offers protection well beyond the advertised protection.

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