Holden offering Colorado 4×4 pickup purchasers seven years of free scheduled maintenance in Australia, but will Chevrolet follow suit in the U.S.?

Australian automaker Holden announced a limited-time promotion last week that offers seven years of free scheduled maintenance on 2020 Holden Colorado 4×4 pickups ordered or delivered by December 31, 2019. The Holden Colorado is a badge-engineered twin of the truck marketed in the U.S. as the Chevrolet Colorado.

According to Holden, the free scheduled maintenance, which is over and above the standard five year, unlimited-kilometers warranty the automaker offers, is worth more than AU$3,000.

In terms of what U.S. consumers are accustomed to, a standard warranty with no odometer limit would be a huge perk in itself.

The free scheduled maintenance offer in Australia also applies to the Holden Acadia and Holden Trailblazer models, both seven-seat SUVs. In the U.S., the Holden Acadia is marketed as the GMC Acadia. For the 2021 model year, Trailblazer is set to re-join the Chevrolet lineup in the U.S. and, according to Automotive News, will be imported from South Korea. Holden’s Trailblazer is built at a GM plant in Rayong, Thailand.

“The MY20 Colorado was launched earlier this year and has been very well received by the marketplace,” said Holden’s General Manager of Colorado Marketing Andre Scott. “But this seven years’ free servicing is an example of Holden ‘putting its money where its mouth is’ in what is an incredibly competitive segment where competitors typically offer ‘capped price’ servicing schemes for up to six years.”

While it’s easy to see how seven years of free scheduled maintenance would be appealing to any automotive purchaser, with truck sales as strong as they currently are in the U.S., it probably isn’t advisable to hold your breath waiting for Chevrolet to come out with a similar offer.

Currently, pickup trucks do not seem to need much sales help in the U.S. Light truck sales reached the highest levels on record last year, at 11.9 million units, according to Statista. As of September, the segment was on track to exceed that level in 2019, with GoodCarBadCar reporting sales up by approximately 121,000 for the year.

Chevrolet Truck Communications Manager Monte Doran has not responded to requests from AutoNewsblaster for comment on whether similar free scheduled maintenance promotions may be forthcoming on Chevrolet truck models. We will update this story with any additional information that may become available on that front.

Last fall, as reported by AutoNewsblaster, GM announced what the automaker described as a “groundbreaking” optional bumper-to-bumper extended warranty available for purchase that extends coverage to five years/60,000 miles for Chevrolet and GMC vehicles, and six years/70,000 miles for Buick and Cadillac models.

While limited periods of free scheduled maintenance are not uncommon among automakers as enticements to purchase a new vehicle, the duration is generally well below what Holden is offering in Australia for the Colorado, Trailblazer, and Acadia.

One of the more generous offers comes from Jaguar, with a term of five years or 60,000 miles of free maintenance for 2019, according to Edmunds.