Why Kia's seven-year warranty won't increase: Will the brand be left behind as rivals like MG, Nissan, Mitsubishi and even Hyundai overtake it?

The days of five-year warranties being competitive for mainstream brands are behind us, let alone the three-year warranties some brands persist with.

Pioneered by Kia’s seven-year warranty a decade ago, the move towards decade-long warranties continues with newcomer brands looking to make a name for themselves, while some brands look to keep customers with servicing-conditional extended warranties.

But now that Kia’s seven-year warranty is no longer the industry leader - despite still being unlimited-kilometre where others aren’t - will the South Korean brand extend its warranty to remain keep up?

Kia Australia CEO Damien Meredith told CarsGuide there are no plans to increase the once-leading seven-year warranty to match rival brands that offer a decade of warranty like MG, Mitsubishi and Nissan.

None of those are unlimited-kilometre warranties, and the latter two are conditional to customers servicing their cars with the brands’ dealers. Kia’s seven-year warranty is both unlimited-kilometre and unconditional when it comes to servicing.

While Kia’s warranty has by no means fallen behind the average, it’s been around for about a decade and the market has changed significantly in that time.

“Over that period of time when we introduced the seven-year warranty, on the first of November, 2014, it was bought in for a lot of reasons but specifically it was to give people permission to look at our brand,” Meredith says.

“It did a great job. In 2015, the number one reason for buying a Kia was the warranty.

“The latest figures I saw, it’s not even top three, it’s fourth. So it’s changed, and it’s not as important to Kia purchasers as it was ten years ago.”

Instead, the factors customers put above its warranty when buying a new car are brand or manufacturer, style, and driving performance.

“It used to be an opener on the showroom floor, now it's more of a closer,” adds Kia Australia General Manager of Marketing Dean Norbiato.

“As opposed to ‘we’ve got a seven-year warranty, look at us’, it’s now everything else. The brand, the quality, the trust in the brand, and then the seven-year warranty finishes it off.”

Kia’s reaffirmed position on its seven-year warranty comes at the same time as reports emerge of Hyundai’s apparent plan to increase its warranty to eight years, up from its current five-year offer.

An insider source told CarsGuide the brand is considering the move, which could feasibly be in response to sales not meeting expectations.

If it goes ahead, it would leapfrog its sibling brand by a year. Furthermore, if it remains unlimited-kilometre and unconditional, it will be one of the strongest warranties in the industry.

Honda currently offers an eight-year unlimited kilometre warranty, the only one to do so, making it the highest-duration warranty not limited by driving distance.

GWM, Skoda and KGM SsangYong all offer seven-year unlimited kilometre warranties alongside Kia, while most of the industry offers five-year warranties. Many premium and European brands still offer three-year warranties.