Alain Visser, Opel head of sales and marketing, said in a statement that the lifetime guarantee is far from misleading consumers as all conditions are clearly mentioned in the offer the GM European unit revealed earlier this year.
"We are not even considering abandoning our campaign," he was quoted as saying by Reuters. "Like every guarantee offer, ours also has conditions and these conditions are presented very clearly. I challenge you to go out and find me a car with even 100,000 kilometers on the clock. Despite threats and some bad PR we do believe that a lifetime guarantee with no time-limit is the strongest statement we could possibly make -- even if it does have some footnotes."
Wettbewerbszentrale, the German Center for Protection against Unfair Competition, said in a statement yesterday that Opel might be even sued if the company decides to go further with the so-called false programme.
"We object to the misleading, eye-catching advertisement, because contrary to the grandiose statement made in it, Opel is not actually offering a 'lifetime' guarantee," Reiner Muenker, member of the Wettbewerbszentrale's executive committee was quoted as saying by The Wall Street Journal.
According to Opel's release, the lifetime warranty covers the engine, gearbox, electronics and the steering system, but only for vehicles with less than 160,000 kilometers (99,400 miles). In addition, parts are completely covered in the first 50,000 km (31,000 miles).
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