Taking aim in the warranty war

Leading carmakers Holden and Ford are staying out of the temporary five-year warranty extension started by Toyota New Zealand last month and picked up by rival Mitsubishi.

The companies are the clear top four carmakers in the country, with combined sales last year of around 60,000 cars out of the more than 98,000 sold.

Ford New Zealand chief Richard Matheson said: "We have no plans to change our present warranty structure. We are retaining our three year/ 100,000km warranty on all new Ford vehicles."

Mitsubishi NZ extended its usual three-year warranty to try and counter Toyota's "Gimme 5" campaign, which helped Toyota to a slender sales lead over Holden in January (See Page 5 story).

Toyota marketing executive Debbie Pattullo said Gimme 5 was launched to "help celebrate 17 years of market leadership."

"The campaign will expire at the end of March. If customers buy a passenger vehicle within this time, they will enjoy the extra benefits of no worries motoring until 2010.

"Our dealers have had lots of enquiry and some very positive feedback from customers."

Mitsubishi marketing manager Ross Cameron said his company had been in and out of the market with a five-year warranty over the past year or so.

"Generally, we find it helps when the customer is in the showroom - just that final thing to help customers make a decision," he said.

"The reality with new cars these days is that it is unlikely that anything will go wrong with them within five years.

"That's why we were so quick to meet the market and extend the warranty because we know that there is very little risk and cost for us to do so.

"Especially going head-to-head with another Japanese distributor. Perhaps if Ford or Holden had done it we might not have been too concerned.

"But up against a Japanese brand like Toyota in the same segment, it's important to be able to give our dealers the same sort of ability to close sales deals."

Last year, Toyota recorded its 17th successive year as market leader, selling 14,225 cars and 5385 commercials for 19,610 overall sales and a 19.8 per cent share.

Ford last year sold 11,702 cars and 4397 commercials; Holden 10,994 cars and 4521 commercials, and Mitsubishi 5877 cars and 3131 commercials.