The new Nissan warranty – up to 10 years if customers service exclusively with dealers – is proving a success, the car maker has said, just as global restructuring plans begin to bite.
Nissan's new 10-year conditional warranty is proving a success for the brand – bringing thousands of customers back through its dealers’ servicing doors in just the first month alone, the car maker has said.
Speaking to media at the launch of the updated MY25 Y62 Nissan Patrol last week, Director for Aftersales for the Oceania region, Michael Hill, said the firm has had a “very strong response” to the new Nissan warranty.
The car maker said there had been more than 2500 owners making bookings for service in the first 30 days – to return to dealer maintenance and take advantage of the longer warranty – after the offer was announced back in February.
“We've had a resounding response from our existing customers who were eligible for it. So people are very, very happy,” Hill told media, including Drive.
“There’s been a very, very strong response to the programme.”
In February, Nissan announced it was extending its existing five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty to 10 years and 300,000 kilometres for new vehicles sold since January 1, 2021, which also covers roadside assistance, and is valid for both private and commercial customers.
However, the five-year term still applied if an owner had serviced their vehicle outside of the Nissan dealer network unless their vehicle passed a $99 “health check”.
“If you didn't service with us, we're not saying you can't come back, but you have to do a little check,” Hill said.
“It's a $99 health check just to make sure that the car has been serviced appropriately at an aftermarket service agent or a mechanic, that it's had all of its services done. We're giving those customers up until January 1, 2026, to do that. So we've had a really strong response to that as well.”
According to Nissan, not all of the returning customers have left the company’s dealer network, some have just “left it a little bit longer than they probably should have” between services.
Hill said the popularity of the extended warranty was also down to factors such as it being applicable to all models in the manufacturer’s line-up, including the Premcar-engineered Patrol Warrior and Navara Pro-4X Warrior vehicles, covering Nissan genuine accessories, and being fully-transferable to new owners which helps with residual values.
Managing Director of Nissan Oceania, Andrew Humberstone, told media the Nissan warranty is the “best in the market” and was helping the brand to stop its customers heading elsewhere.
“In terms of revenue to the dealer network, it's been quite impressive. It’s really important that we find ways to secure their financial business, especially given the kind of cost increase we are seeing [at the moment] in the market where dealers – irrespective of brand – are experiencing about a 30 per cent increase in their costs. Whether that's recruitment, utilities or whatever.
"The challenge that they have is how to offset that cost, and if you can't just do it with volume and you can't just do it with margin, then you've also got to deliver it on aftersales.
“The retention [comes] through the finance company and the aftersales programme and all the new product stuff that we're doing. That’s the strategy on how we drive the business forward.”
Humberstone’s comments come at the same time as Nissan – led by new CEO Ivan Espinosa (below) – has reported its biggest net financial loss in 25 years.
Last week, as reported by Drive, the Japanese car maker announced losses totalling $AU7 billion (670.9 billion Japanese yen) for the 2024-2025 financial year amid a decline in both vehicle sales and profits.
As a result, Espinosa laid out an expanded restructuring plan designed to turn Nissan's financial performance around, which includes 11,000 job cuts – in addition to the 9000 previously announced.
The firm is also expected to close seven factories by the 2027 Japanese financial year, four more than previously indicated, which leaves 10 remaining.
A born-and-bred newshound, Kathryn has worked her way up through the ranks reporting for, and later editing, two renowned UK regional newspapers and websites, before moving on to join the digital newsdesk of one of the world’s most popular newspapers – The Sun. More recently, she’s done a short stint in PR in the not-for-profit sector, and led the news team at Wheels Media.
