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Major Marketing Effort Supports New GM 100,000-Mile Powertrain Warranty Voices Next Big Step in Company's North America Turnaround PlanDETROIT- General Motors will tell consumers about the newest reason whythey should put GM vehicles on their shopping lists through a fullyintegrated corporate marketing campaign that debuts Thursday.Themed "Elevate," the campaign will tell the story of how people who buyGM cars, pickups, SUVs and crossover vehicles will now be traveling on a"higher road" with a new level of confidence, thanks to GM's new100,000-mile, five-year powertrain limited warranty, which was announcedtoday by GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner. The new powertrain warranty features expanded powertrain coverage acrossall eight GM brands to 100,000 miles and five years, beginning with theentire 2007 lineup of cars and light-duty trucks. It is completelytransferable, carries no deductible and is the best warranty of anyfull-line automaker. GM also has expanded its 24/7 roadside assistanceand courtesy transportation programs to 100,000 miles and five years.Altogether, it's the best coverage in the auto industry. Wagoner said that the new powertrain warranty, combined with GM'soutstanding quality, competitive pricing, and a stable of successful newvehicles with relevant technologies such as OnStar and StabiliTrak,provide GM customers with an unprecedented level of value and peace ofmind.GM will begin to get this message out with a 60-second spot that willair during Thursday night's NBC-televised NFL season opener between theworld champion Pittsburgh Steelers and the Miami Dolphins. The spot alsowill air on a wide variety of premium network and cable sports, news andentertainment programming.Created with GM by Deutsch Inc. in Los Angeles, the spot featuresseveral 2007 GM cars and trucks, which "elevate" above gridlockedtraffic in Los Angeles, New York, Miami and San Francisco. Onceairborne, surprised drivers accelerate on this exclusive, alternatefreeway. A voiceover states: A new level of strength. A new level ofquality. A new level.. of confidence. Introducing the GM 100,000-MileWarranty. With courtesy transportation and roadside assistance on everyvehicle we make. It's the best coverage in America, from the biggestbrand in America. Music for the spot is "Get What You Need," by Jet."The goal of the 'Elevate' campaign is to tell people that GM is nowoffering the broadest, largest, most value-driven coverage in theindustry," said Mark LaNeve, GM North America vice president of vehiclesales, service and marketing. "Our comprehensive coverage demonstrateswe're serious about the quality and reliability of all of our vehicles.And we have an integrated marketing campaign that showcases that beliefclearly, strongly and consistently."In addition to the television component, the "Elevate" campaign willhave a heavy online presence, an experiential out-of-home component inseveral major markets across the United States, print advertising innewspapers and point-of-sale materials. All communications will carrythe "Elevate" theme and will, in a variety of creative ways, show GMvehicles on the exclusive elevated highway.

sounds good, but how can it be deemed the "best" when hyundai and kia (I think) have 100,000 miles/10 year warranties?There's probly something in the fine print I'm missing. That's a vast improvement over the 36k mile/3 year stuff

Toyota has a 5 yr 60,000 mile power train warranty. At 5 years I would have about 33,000 miles on my car so this 5 year 100,000 mile warranty doesn't mean much to me.If they really wanted to impress me it would be 5 years or 100,000 miles whichever comes last.

Right! It will be defined I am sure.

Quote, originally posted by MiVibe-ToolGuy »best warranty of anyfull-line automaker. Hyundai and Kia are not "full-line" automakers!

Quote, originally posted by michaelgt »Hyundai and Kia are not "full-line" automakers! see, I told you I missed some fine print.

Typical GM to use "Full Line Automakers" since Hyundai and Kia do not manufacture trucks. I'm with Jake, make it 5 years or 100,000 miles, whichever comes LAST, not first.Since I drive 35K+ miles a year, my '05, which I bought in April 05, is now out of warranty after only 16 months.This is nothing but a marketing gimmick, which follows Ford's extension of warranty on their '06 models.

It is a little bit more than a marketing gimmick - just not as good as it looks except for those who drive 20,000 miles plus a year. The vast majority of vehicles will not have a powertrain failure in that time frame so the cost per vehicle will not be that much. My contention is that when a powertrain failure happens at less than 5 years/60,000 miles it is usually a "defect" and most companies will make some good will adjustment anyway, so why not just have a longer warranty from the git-go. However, a friend of mine had a Saturn with a bad transmission at 38,000 miles and they hung her out to dry. Now that Ford and GM are extending their powertrain warranties, I wonder what Chrysler will do - a year ago they ditched their 7yr/70,000 mile powertrain warranty.

KIA and HUNDAY's 100k mile/10 yr is only power train, not bumper to bumper coverage. not sure how lon the bumper to bumper is.

Nope, not 100,000 on everything, just powertrain, you are correct. But still a damn good warranty on the Hyundais.... Quote, originally posted by hyundaiusa.com »10-Year/100,000-Mile Powertrain Limited Warranty that covers most engine and transaxle components.5-Year/60,000-Mile Bumper-to-Bumper New Vehicle Limited Warranty Coverage that covers nearly every new vehicle component with limited coverage of normal wear items like windshield wiper blades, oil filters, and engine fluids.5-Year/Unlimited Miles 24-hour Roadside Assistance that covers towing (including accidents), lock-out, flat tire, and jump-starting.5-Year/100,000-Mile Anti-perforation Limited Warranty that covers corrosion-related perforation of body sheet metal from the inside out.8-Year/80,000-Mile Federal Emissions Design and Defect and Emission Performance Warranty that includes the catalytic converter, engine control module, and onboard emission diagnostic device.7-Year/70,000-Mile California Vehicle Emission Control Systems Warranty that includes 7-year/70,000-mile coverage on selected parts.3-Year/36,000-Mile Paint, Limited Warranty.I love that 36K paint warranty, that's better than the cheeseball 12K crap GM gives you. GM can't claim that they have a better warranty, that's where the "full line" stuff comes in. Their upcoming powertrain warranty discussed in the article above shows promise, BUT........... Notice they didn't say anything about bumper-to-bumper. Out of curiosity, I went out to see what I could dig up about it. Surely, GM would be extending the bumper-to-bumper warranty beyond the pathetic 3/36 crap, right? It's the perfect opportunity to drum up some confidence from your customers, GM! You can do that by standing behind what you sell longer. Simple as that. But noooo! (link) Quote »For non-powertrain components, GM's bumper-to-bumper limited warranty for new vehicles remains in effect: four years or 50,000 miles for Buicks, Cadillacs, Hummers and Saabs, and three years or 36,000 miles for Chevrolets, GMCs, Pontiacs and Saturns.It's a step in the right direction, covering the major major mechanical stuff for 100,000. They're probably doing that since they'd have to goodwill a crapload of gaskets and such anyway thanks to them insisting on using Dexcool. LOL! But the piddly 36,000 bumper-to-bumper warranty, they need to do something about that. 50-60K minimum, IMHO. Those little things that happen can nickel and dime you to death too. I don't see the advantage of the powertrain warranty in terms of years though, it seems off-balance. The average american is driving more now than ever but still... Those who rack up a lot of miles fast can probably find a better way to make use of that (like me, the Accent is now approaching 10,000 miles and I've only owned it since May.) Those who buy a car and keep it in the garage for years and do the average or below won't be so lucky. They need to bump the years up to cover those guys. GM's warranty is better than something like Hyundai's in one regard - transferrable. Hyundai and Kia only allow the powertrain warranty to be transferred to immediate family. Otherwise, you lose the 10/100,000 mile warranty if you buy used. You still get 5/60 all around, which is still better than what you'll find on most, i.e. Honyota/etc for instance. Being able to transfer the warranty to whoever whenever is good news for the GM used car buyer for sure.I'm glad to see GM moving toward standing behind their products better. They're a bit late in the game, where were they when Hyundai started the warranty wars back in 1999? But still, there's a lot of people who consider warranty very important when buying something, so this will certainly help their sales. For GM stuff, up to now, aside from the luxury vehicles, the only way you could get a longer warranty from GM for free was buy a Cobalt or Aveo which have the 3/36 bumper-to-bumper and 5/60 powertrain.BTW, here is a warranty comparison between various makes.

You bring up some good points CP! And right it is a step in the right direction and like others! I see it as only helping!

Quote, originally posted by ColonelPanic » But still, there's a lot of people who consider warranty very important when buying something, so this will certainly help their sales. It is interesting that Chrysler used as an excuse for dropping their 7yr/70,000 mile powertrain waranty that research showed that was not very important to consumers. That made no sense to me.As for GM, I find it strange that buyers of Buicks, Cadillacs, Hummers and Saabs get 4 yr/50,000 mile bumper to bumper but GMC, Pontiac and Chevy buyers do not. What's that say to buyers of those brands? I have seen a lot of car dealers advertising their own included 100,000 mile power train warranty, so you know it must not present much of a financial risk - I'm guessing $200 tops. The cost of extended warranties are at least 50% dealer profit and paperwork costs. If GM offered a 10 year 100,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty as a $750 (with a dealer maarkup like other options) I think they would be better off.

Quote, originally posted by jake75 »It is interesting that Chrysler used as an excuse for dropping their 7yr/70,000 mile powertrain waranty that research showed that was not very important to consumers. That made no sense to me.Wha? I haven't done any scientific research, but I swear to it, people like warranties! If we had a dollar for every time someone has come on here complaining that their warranty expired and now they need to use it, we could buy at least a few people an extended warranty. LOL!

for any warranty to be good, doesn't the dealer have to be able to recreate the problem and then ADMIT that it's a warranty issue?just thinking about so many 'warranty' issues we hear about on this board (starting issues, window issues, paint issues...)

Exactomundo Atomb! Warranties are useless when warranty claims are routinely denied.

Eh, good point. It sounded good in theory. GM still denied many things on the Vibe when I PAID for the extended warranty out of my own pocket. They still didn't want to fix it. But the thing about denying claims is a good point. I bet GM's going to be pretty strict about what you do to the car and how it is done... Better have all your i's dotted and t's crossed, keep good records, and save receipts just in case something happens... And those that mod may want to reconsider. That's pretty much the way Hyundai's warranty works, so if you do something they think you shouldn't, they may not cover it. Wouldn't surprise me if GM did something similar, keeps them from having to replace stuff that that breaks due to the owner's fault.

Hey i had 5/100,000 km powertrain warrenty on my 03 vibe......i wish i had that new warrenty now.i have 104,000 and i got nothing.......the car is only 3 years old.....the new warrenty is 5/160,000.....i would have warrnety till the dies.lol....so ya it is a really good thing GM is doing this.....and it is to prove to all the honda nad toyota lovers that GM is as good if not better then thier products.