American EV brand slashes warranty on new cars – but eight-year battery guarantee remains

All Tesla vehicles purchased in Australia after February 1, 2019, will be covered by a four-year, 80,000km warranty.

Previously, Tesla owners were covered by the longest warranty offered in Australia — eight years or 160,000km, whichever came first.

The move by Tesla Australia, which finally launched the Tesla Model 3 in Australia last week, is at odds with the trend towards longer warranties across the motor industry.

All of the top 10 auto brands now offer a five-year/unlimited-km warranty and Tesla has now relinquished the title of Australia’s best new vehicle factory warranty to Kia, SsangYong, Haval and Ferrari, all of which offer a seven-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty.

But while Tesla has slashed its warranty, it’s still better (at least in terms of time) than the three-year/unlimited-km warranties offered by its chief European luxury car rivals in Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche.

For reference, Lexus and Infiniti both offer four years/100,000km, Alfa Romeo offers three years/150,000km and Jaguar offers three years/100,000km.

The shorter vehicle warranty for all three of Tesla’s EV models – Model 3, Model S and Model X – doesn’t affect the battery warranty timeframe, which remains eight years and 160,000km.

However, as outlined in its updated warranty documents, Tesla’s eight-year battery warranty excludes original 60kWh battery-powered vehicles manufactured before 2015, which are covered for eight years or 200,000km.

And Tesla is more specific with Model 3 batteries, which are covered for eight years or 160,000km, with a minimum 70 per cent capacity retention in that period. The same applies to the Model 3 with Long-Range Battery, which is warranted for eight years or 192,000km.

As we reported this week, consumer advocacy group Choice is campaigning for car-makers to offer 60-day refunds or returns on lemon cars that do not function as intended, which are currently only offered by Holden, Toyota and Volkswagen.

Tesla offers a full refund for the first seven days or 1600km of ownership of any new vehicle (whichever comes first) in some countries, but not Australia.