Hyundai has announced a change to its new car warranty, increasing from the industry standard five-year guarantee to a seven-year, unlimited kilometre warranty — providing scheduled servicing is completed on time at the dealer.
The announcement comes on 1 September, and Hyundai is backdating the two-year longer warranty for vehicles registered from 1 June 2025.
Pictured: 2025 Hyundai Santa Fe Calligraphy
Hyundai was the first brand in Australia to offer a longer, five-year warranty when it announced the program in 2007 to improve consumer confidence.
Hyundai’s warranty covers all SUV and passenger car models and powertrains, including hybrid, petrol, electric and diesel. Eight-year coverage for high-voltage electrical components — chiefly hybrid and EV batteries — remains.
The only vehicle excluded is the Staria Load van when used for a “commercial application”, says Hyundai. That car gets the standard five-year coverage.
Pictured: 2025 Hyundai Staria Load
If a vehicle is not serviced on time at a dealer, Hyundai’s new seven-year warranty will revert back to five-years. This is similar to Toyota‘s passenger vehicle offering, but differs from sister-brand Kia’s offer.
Kia’s coverage does not stipulate dealer servicing for the full seven year interval, though does require maintenance to be carried out as listed in the dealer service manual.
Hyundai may have been an early mover for five years, but Kia has been trading off its seven-year warranty since 2014. Recently, other carmakers have joined the race for the ‘best’ warranty.
Pictured: 2025 Hyundai Kona Electric
New Chinese brands including (but not limited to) GWM (seven years for passenger vehicles) and MG (seven years for passenger vehicles) have launched longer guarantees to bolster confidence.
Japanese brands, including Mitsubishi (up to 10 years/200,000km) and Nissan (up to 10 years/300,000km), are also engaging in warranty warfare with ever-longer commitments.
As for which brand offers the best warranty, it will depend on your use case. And it’s always worth reading the fine print for what might not be covered.
Pictured: 2025 Hyundai Tucson N-Line Hybrid
Hyundai’s new longer seven-year warranty offer ought to help it build momentum this year, after slower 2024 sales saw the well-known Korean carmaker finish as the sixth-best selling brand.
This year is going better, with July’s sales putting Hyundai 11.1 percent up on 2024 thanks, in part, to strong deliveries of Tucson medium SUV and Kona small SUV.
Other brands not-yet-mentioned in this story ahead of Hyundai in the sales charts include Mazda and Ford, which cap warranties at five years and unlimited kilometres.
