Auto news on Youtube Oct 31 2017

MG to offer seven-year warranty on new ZS SUV

MG has introduced a seven-year warranty on its new ZS small SUV, matching Kia's headline-grabbing warranty period.

The warranty lasts seven years, is transferable between subsequent owners if the car is sold and has an 80,000-mile maximum mileage; 20% down on Kias.  Kia's seven-year warranty was introduced to UK customers in 2010, meaning the first of them issued only come to an end this year.

It's likely that MG is employing the strategy to emulate Kia's foothold on UK sales, which was aided by the first scrappage schemes in 2009. MG already offers a six-year anti-perforation corrosion warranty, although this is optional.

The seven-year warranty covers everything on the car for the first year and the usual restrictions to wear-and-tear, serviceable items and upkeep apply.  It'll only be available on the ZS, and MG doesn't know if or when it'll extend the offer to its other models; the move is at present fairly experimental and its success will spell the future of the scheme across the brand, according to MGs head of sales and marketing, Matthew Cheyne.

The brand does, however, already offer a five-year warranty on its larger GS SUV.  The six-year warranty could help to attract new customers - people whose radars MG has fallen from in recent years.

A scrappage scheme was also announced recently with a similar intention. Cheyne estimates that around a third of MGs sales are from customers taking advantage of the scrappage scheme, which offers £1500 off the 3 supermini.

Should the scheme be deemed successful at MG, it could spread with the introduction of each new model; the second-generation 3 is due next year, as is the new 6 saloon, with a facelifted version of the GS SUV appearing at some time after that. .