Mercedes-Benz no closer to a five year warranty

Mercedes are instead focusing on reducing service pricing and the costs customers see most often during ownership.

Speaking to Drive at the launch of the Mercedes-Benz EQC in Norway, Mercedes-Benz Australia's head of media relations and product communications Jerry Stamoulis said while the media and other companies focus on extended warranties, it's looking in another direction.

"So you know the discussion of warranty is a talking point at the moment. More so for the media and some of the other car companies, but it is something we've been discussing for years," Stamoulis said.

"It is not a fashionable item for us which we just started talking about. At this stage it is not something we are offering."

"So we are concentrating more on how can we reduce servicing costs. And we are doing that with some of our servicing products which customers can purchase," he continued.

"So there is a few things that we're doing to improve that customer experience from a servicing perspective, because a five year warranty won’t reduce or eliminate servicing costs."

Pushed on the topic, Stamoulis said the company's primary concern is reducing the cost of customer touch points with the brand, which begins with reducing the cost of servicing your vehicle.

"We are always considering what is something that customers are really pushing us on. Servicing costs and servicing packages with transparent pricing is a priority and we recently re-launched these packages. And you never say never to anything, but at this stage we are not offering it [a five year warranty]."

The cost of adding an extra two years to a warranty varies by manufacturer and, asked why Mercedes-Benz was resisting the change and what the precise cost would be, Stamoulis was non committal.

"There is no industry standard. It is brand-by-brand and vehicle-by-vehicle. And that can change depending on what is happening in the dealerships. It is not just a figure that we can come up with. It is a figure that needs to be agree upon by a number of people. So it is not something we are only just starting to think about."

It's safe to say that a five year warranty may still be a while away for Mercedes-Benz customers.

At this stage, Mercedes-Benz is joined by Audi, BMW and Jaguar with three year warranties. While Jaguar offers a five year warranty on I-Pace and Lexus has offered a four year warranty for a number of years, the premium market is quite stagnant with its position.

It's likely to take one of those brands to push up to five years before the others join the movement.

Should brands like Mercedes-Benz offer a five year warranty, like a number of other brands in Australia?