It’s the beginning of another year, which means aside from new year resolutions, it’s also time to look back and wrap up the year before – that’s why you see car companies and the likes boasting about their sales achievements and annual recaps.
On top of the brands tooting their own horns, though, there are also usually some interesting studies on trends that have dominated the industry – like this one looking at the Google search trends for car brands around the world that Australia’s Compare the Market religiously puts out each year since 2018.
For 2021, like the year before, Toyota has once again dominated the global search rankings as the most searched car brand in the world. It was the top-searched marque in 47 out of 154 countries, or 31% of the sample. BMW ranks second as the most search car brand in 29 territories, while Mercedes-Benz comes in a close third at 23.
Despite still retaining its top spot, Toyota’s performance in 2021 was actually a slight regression over the 34.8% it achieved in 2020, due to other brands gaining ground.
However, interest for Toyota remains high, especially after the brand announced that it’ll start reproducing spare parts for the iconic AE86 in November last year, plus the launch of the Corolla Cross SUV and the all-new Land Cruiser.
Back home in Malaysia, the honours of the most-searched car brand for 2021 falls to Honda once again, while neighbouring Singaporeans were searching for Tesla the most. Interestingly, the folks in Laos seem to have a special affinity for Rolls-Royce, as the ultra-luxury brand was the most-searched marque in the Southeast Asian country.
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While the top three have been swapping places for the past four years, Compare the Market noted that brand interests have been morphing worldwide, with brands like Audi, Hyundai, and Suzuki making up grounds year-over-year. Rolls-Royce and Mazda have also appeared as the top-searched carmaker in at least one country for the first time since the study started in 2018.
On the contrary, brands like Ford, Volvo, Nissan, and Peugeot appear to be running out of steam when it comes to search interest, with each brand’s ranking dropping by at least three places. Volkswagen, Mitsubishi, Alfa Romeo have also dropped out from the rankings completely in 2021 as they did not make it to the top in any of the 154 countries sampled.
