Hyundai is about to move to a seven-year/unlimited kilometre warranty in Australia, up from its existing five-year/unlimited kilometre item.
And if you've recently purchased or just ordered one, don't worry, because, according to a source close to the company, the newly-extended warranty will be backdated to January 1, 2025.
Hyundai Motor Company Australia (HMCA) General Manager Public Relations, Bill Thomas, declined to comment but it is believed an announcement is imminent.
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This will finally put the brand on a par with in-house rival, Kia, which has offered a seven-year/unlimited kilometre warranty in Australia since October, 2014.
It still trails the industry-best 10-year warranties offered at the time of publishing by Nissan, MG and Mitsubishi, though the Japanese brands are authorised dealer-activated only while all are limited by distance limitations of 300,000km, 250,000km and 200,000km respectively.
A longer warranty is believed to be a key reason why Kia has overtaken HMCA in sales over the past few years, as most of their models and technologies are shared within the broader Hyundai Motor Group.
Placed in fifth place overall behind Kia, Ford, Mazda and Toyota in ascending order, HMCA volume for the first four months of 2025 is up 3.5 per cent year-on-year, to 23,833 registrations, doubling Kia's 1.8 per cent growth spurt and in contrast to an overall industry decline of five per cent.
So, while it still trails Kia's 26,037 sales, the gap between the two brands is now down, to just over 2200 units.
But there is still work to do for HMCA.
Despite strong performances from the brand's core SUVs like the large Santa Fe, small Kona and city-sized Venue, the Ioniq 5 crossover and Ioniq 6 sedan electric vehicles are struggling , down 16.2 and 56 per cent respectively.
That said, the related Kia EV6's volume has not only plummeted 72 per cent, it is now outsold by the Ioniq 5.
With HMCA's newly-extended warranty, it will be interesting to see if it can overtake Kia in Australia again.
