Hyundai's fleet focus with five-year warranty

HYUNDAI Car UK has announced a five-year/unlimited mileage warranty across its range in order to attract fleets to its products and boost their residual values.

Announcing the scheme, a first in the UK market, managing director David Walker said: 'We are confident, encouraged by the long-term reliability of our vehicles and the confidence we have in them, that more and more fleet managers will consider Hyundai.'

The move is part of a concerted effort by Hyundai to increase its fleet business, from its current level of 7% of all sales – about 2,000 cars – up to 15-20%, aiming particularly at fleets under 25 cars.

At the same time, the firm wants to move from its current total sales of about 28,000 vehicles a year, towards 40,000 over a period of three years.

Walker believes that the combination of the warranty and Hyundai's new supermini, the Getz, should be major factors in achieving that aim.

With the warranty, which is manufacturer backed, able to be passed on to the secondhand buyer, the firm is also hoping to push residuals up at least a couple of points on average.

Hyundai is also moving back into rental fleets. It pulled out of the market early last year, due to residual instability, but Walker said, with resale values more stable, it was time to get more potential customers driving the cars.

He explained that Hyundai would be doing more deals with rental companies, such as the recent Thrifty contract for 255 cars, rather than placing larger numbers with less companies, in order to spread residual risk.

The announcement is being backed up by a £6 million advertising campaign across national television and newspapers.