Recap 2021: Top 10 most-searched car brands in the world

When people have to search about their favourite set of wheels or a new ride that they're looking to buy, the first stop mostly is Google. Now-a-days, an online search usually precedes going to a showroom to look at the vehicle physically. More so during the Covid-19 pandemic as carmakers made a signification effort to increase their digital reach.

Like every year, even in 2021, various people logged onto the internet to search about various car brands and their models. An analysis of Google Trends data by Australia's Compare the Market, for 154 countries for the top searched vehicle brands last year, shows that Japanese car manufacturer Toyota was overall the most searched car brand around the world.

Toyota topped the online searches in 47 of the 154 countries, representing around 31% of all searches. However, the searches for Toyota were down 34.8% from the searches it secured in 2020. Yet, the reason why searches for Toyota still remain high is because the company announced Toyota Gazoo Racing in November last year as well as informed that it would start reproducing spare parts for its Corolla Levin and Sprinter Trueno makes.

Top 10 most-searched car brands in the world in 2021
Ranking	Car brand	No. of countries
1	Toyota	47
2	BMW	29
3	Mercedes	23
4	Audi	11
5	Kia	7
6	Hyundai	6
7	Tesla	5
8	Renault	4
9	Ford	4
10	Honda	3

Toyota was followed by BMW and Mercedes-Benz in second and third places respectively. The three carmakers have dominated Google searches around the world for the second consecutive year. Interestingly, on average across the past four years, BMW holds the title of the top searched brand in more countries than any other competitor. This is majorly due to the fact that the OEM was most searched brand in 118 of the countries in 2019.

Audi, Kia and Hyundai grabbed the fourth, fifth and sixth positions respectively. Hyundai dominated the online search in India where the carmaker made several key announcements and launches in 2021 including Alcazar three-row SUV and the i20 N Line.

Tesla joined the list for the first time at the seventh position. The EV maker was the most searched vehicle brand in Hong Kong, Israel, Macao, Singapore and China. In 2021, Tesla offered several vehicles such as Model S, the Cybertruck, Model 3, the Roadster and the Semi truck.

Tesla was followed by Renault, Ford and Honda in the eight, ninth and tenth positions respectively. Rankings of Ford dropped by at least three places compared to last year. Meanwhile brands such as Volkswagen, Mitsubishi, Alfa Romeo and Daewoo dropped out of the race and didn’t make the list for top searched vehicle brand in any country last year.