Here in SA, extended warranties are normally an additional cost to the sales price. Often, such extended warranties are offered by third-party motor insurance companies and not the manufacturer themselves. In other words, as with all insurance, it is always a matter of risk.
For those car marques offering longer warranty periods it has more to do with wooing customers back during what is a worldwide depression in sales the worldwide car market.
Triumph Motorcycles as with all manufacturers are interested in selling product. Their warranty period of 2-year unlimited mileage is consistent with the motorcycle market in general. Compare this with back in the day, when the BSA Group offered 6-months and then referred the owner back to Amal, Dunlop, Lucas, etc., when it came to the various cycle parts!
IMO, it is not that Triumph does not have confidence in its product. In today's global market that would be ridiculous. If the market were to dictate longer warranty periods, then the costs of such a move would have to be passed on to the customer and therefore would have to be built in to the retail price. Would the market sustain such a price hike? Doubtful...
Car manufacturers are loosing money worldwide. Many are looking to their national governments to finance their continued existence. Others are making strategic moves towards making alliances with other marques. Some manufacturers are moving their entire production facilities to Asia. Concerning the Japanese motorcycle manufacturers, only Honda seems viable at the moment -- yet even it has not released a new 600-class or superbike in over 6 years! A brief check up of the lack of R&D and brand new products (not simply revised) over the past 4-years will reveal this.
Of all the Japanese motorcycle manufacturers, Suzuki is suffering the most, while Yamaha have seen a vast drop in its profitability over the past 4-years. Only Kawasaki (the smallest Japanese motorcycle manufacturer) seems to be fully viable, but that could be because of its backing by Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd., a Japanese industrial giant! Yet, even if news reports are anything to go by, it too has moved its manufacturing based to Thailand.
Finally, what would be the point of a manufacturer offering long term warranties
pro gratis and thereby lose profits and eventually going into receivership? This is particularly the case where customers are becoming more and more finicky over small warranty issues -- often cosmetic issues -- which were never part and parcel of an earlier time when motorcycles were a primary form of transport and not a recreational/life style item. What use would the warranty be then?
Triumph are into manufacturing motorcycles that the market wants. Their product is built to world standards and their price point is good. In the previous financial year, due to uncertainty in the eurozone market Triumph has already reported a drop in operating profits before interest and tax from £22.3m to £15.7m. By the market pushing them to offer longer warranties, this may cause them to fall perilously close to the red, thereby causing a fall in R&D, a reduction in new product, lower sales, and who knows -- John Bloor selling out to an Indian national concern and the entire manufacturing facility moving to the Indian sub-continent.
A slippery slope none of us wants!
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