Renault itself denies its introduction of 4+ is a direct response to the longer warranties offered by some of its rivals, although it does concede that part of its reasoning behind the product’s creation is to ‘to give customers greater peace of mind in uncertain times’.

Renault has recently told AM that warranty repair volumes have declined 40% in three years.

However, the brand accepted that the product gave its representatives ‘scope’ to keep customers within the franchise.

The fact that 4+ has netted Renault the inaugural CarBuyer Buyers’ Award earlier this month means that industry commentators think the manufacturer has struck the right chord.

In fact, Auto Express and CarBuyer editor-in-chief Steve Fowler said: “We’ve seen plenty of long warranties and tempting buying packages, but Renault 4+ is the best of all worlds, providing plenty of peace of mind, while making car buying more affordable and transparent.”

While premium brands have not yet followed any of the volume producers down the lengthier new car warranty route, Audi, which also declined to share warranty labour sale figures from its network, has effectively come up with a halfway house with its service, maintenance and warranty combo for all newly-ordered models.

According to Audi, its customers keep their cars for an average of three years, thereby making anything more than a three-year warranty unnecessary.

However, the Audi Complete package, which launched last summer, includes all service, parts and maintenance costs for the first three years of ownership for a one-off fee or fixed monthly payments.

Crucially, Audi has also built in a safety net for those who may keep their car longer by incorporating a five-year/90,000-mile warranty as well as the first MoT.

Likewise, Nissan UK was reluctant to provide figures illustrating the downturn of warranty labour in their workshops, although aftersales director Robert Lujan admitted the dealer network’s warranty labour work had reduced over the past five years.

Maintaining that the amount of warranty work the brand experienced was always ‘relatively small’, Lujan said: “Our dealer viability model is not highly dependent on a direct profit stream from warranty work.