Great Car Ads: Chevrolet’s 1975 Warranty
Chevrolet’s Great Engine Warranty
Hyundai, who made a name for itself by offering the longest warranty in the car business, quickly revealed that a great warranty is the secret sauce in changing the way people think about a brand’s quality. But Hyundai was not the first car company to leverage this tactic. Back in 1975, Chevrolet knew it had one up on their competitors. Their amazing Dura-Built 4 cylinder engine was “so amazing and durable”, it boasted a warranty that was 11,500 longer that the 4 cylinder warranties offered by Toyota, VW, and Datsun (that’s the old name of Nissan for the youngsters). It’s almost a it comical to think that Toyota and Datsun actually gave warranties of 12-20,000 miles on their engine, but they did. These cars are so classic. I wonder what people would say about these new cars today?
I love this ad for a lot of reasons. First, I love how they shot the cars in the Mojave Desert, with all its dried up dirt, to drive home the point that it can even last in the desert with not a gas station, human, or restroom stop in site. It’s just you and your Monza! But have no fear, the car won’t let you down.
Second, is that it reminded me how cool it used to be that we all described engines in cubic inches, not liters of cubic centimeters. Since when did we Americans start to care about the metric system and why do we use it for wine, booze, soda, and engines? I loved those days when people talked about their 302 Boss and the 426 Hemi. America used to be so proud of those big numbers. Now, we talk in 3.0 and 4.6s. I liked the big numbers better as it’s simply more American. Maybe Government Motors will push this initiative.
Third, I love how we used to be limited to an “engine warranty” rather than an entire powertrain warranty, which may include the transmission and drivetrain as well. Certainly, this progression of quality and competition over the consumer has benefited all of us. This ad really reinforces this truth.
Finally, I like the fact that there was no fine print, so they had to be pretty descriptive in the main copy. In fact, advertisers seemed to use the main body of copy as the fine print. Today, there’s so many stipulations and restrictions that we have three areas of text…. the main headline, the copy, and the little print that tells us they may have quite possibly misled us with all their above statement.
Note: Hyundai’s 100,000 mile warranty is Non-Transferable
Speaking of warranties and disclaimers….
A Hyundai buyer recently told me how excited to find out he was buying a 2010 Hyundai Sonata. He was especially gushing about his warranty and that he will never have to worry about his car again. Yes, that’s a bit bold, but he was excited and so was I. And while I was very congratulatory, I had to quickly warn him that her 100,000 powertrain warranty does have a small wrinkle in it. The big 100,000 warranty that is so well advertised is(a) for the powertrain only; and (b) the warranty only covers the original owner. If you sell the car, the 100,000 warranty is reduced to 60,000 miles – which is the same as their still fabulous bumper-to-bumper warranty. He didn’t know this, but was still thrilled. After all, he felt amazing about his purchase and deserved a new car. You can read his and other consumer car reviews on various Hyundai cars on Honk! Yes, I dropped in a shameless plug 
