BYD changes the terms of the warranty in Australia before customer deliveries begin.
Back in February, Chinese electric vehicle and battery manufacturer BYD began to offer its Atto 3 electric SUV in Australia. Order books were opened and local distributer EVDirect announced that the cars would come with a 7-year warranty with no mileage cap. However, they have since revised that warranty policy. This week, Australian motoring website Drive reported that BYD’s Australian website updated the warranty terms and sent notices to their upcoming customers. A new warranty scheme had been put in place. Instead of 7 years and unlimited mileage, the car is now covered for 6 years with a mileage cap of 150,000km. What’s more, the warranty coverage has now been reduced to cover fewer parts than before. There’s now also a separate warranty of 3-4 years on infotainment, TPMS and suspension parts.
On the bright side, the warranty on the battery has been lengthened to 8 years of coverage with a 160,000km mileage cap. BYD’s Australian representative explained that BYD’s policy was being standardised for the Asia-Pacific region, meaning this warranty deal might be the one we get when BYD eventually sets up shop in Malaysia.
EVDirect’s Managing Director explained that in the initial stages, BYD hadn’t yet set their global warranty policy, so their company came up with the 7-year coverage policy to mirror what was being offered by the competing MG ZS EV. The new 8+6 year warranty policy is a BYD policy that overrides EVDirect’s initial promise. It was said to mirror customer demands for longer coverage over the battery, which, in fairness is usually the part that goes through the most wear and tear on an EV. It’s usually also one of the most expensive parts to replace.
Strangely enough, BYD’s Chinese battery warranty is said to be a ‘lifetime’ warranty. However, this would simply not be easy to implement in Australia, where consumer protection laws are extremely tough. What’s more, EVDirect intends to try different methods of ownership including leasing and financing, which would make a lifetime battery warranty tough to implement.
Despite not being a lifetime warranty, BYD’s Australian battery coverage is still healthy. It’s double what Tesla offers on their entire car and just about matches what’s expected in the industry. It just isn’t quite class leading like Lexus’.
