The change was made after discussions with its dealer council, spokesman Rick Deneau told Autonews. It will come into effect for all 2010 model-year vehicles, allowing customers to sell the vehicle and transfer the warranty to the new owner at no extra cost.
"The issue of transferability was something people found very appealing," Rick Deneau said. The lifetime powertrain warranty "wasn't as valuable to consumers as we might have hoped."
According to the new provisions, the policy will be broadened to vehicles which were not subject to lifetime warranty as well, including SRT performance vehicles and the Viper. It will not cover the Dodge Sprinter, Dodge Ram trucks with diesel engines and commercial vans.
The lifetime warranty was introduced by Chrysler in 2007, just prior to its sale from Daimler to Cerberus Capital Management. The deal made at the time is now subject to a lawsuit filed by a group of Chrysler creditors against the German manufacturer.
The group accuses Daimler of stripping Chrysler of its most valuable assets when selling it to Cerberus. The creditors claim the splitting off Chrysler's US and Canadian financing units allowed Daimler to get a better sale price from Cerberus.
Daimler on the other hand says the accusations are without merit and, according to Julia Engelhardt, a spokeswoman for Daimler, the group will defend itself.
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