Toyota was the most searched car brand in 2021, followed by BMW

Toyota Motor topped the list of overall most searched car brand as it was the top-searched carmaker in 47 out of 154 countries, representing 31 percent of the sample, as per an annual ranking released by Australia's ‘Compare the Market’. It was followed by BMW that came in the second place as the most search car brand in 29 territories, while Mercedes-Benz followed a close third.

The three above mentioned carmakers have been close contenders since the past four years in terms of dominating Google searches and being the most popular carmakers around the world. BMW was the most searched carmaker in 2019, being the most popular car brand in 118 countries that year.

Interestingly, Tesla joined the ranking for the first time last year as it became the top-searched car brand in regions like Hong Kong, Israel, Macao, Singapore, and China. It also appeared as either second or third most-searched car brand in Austria, the Bahamas, Botswana, Congo Kinshasa, Croatia, Finland, Guinea, Iceland, Kuwait, Madagascar, Malta, Norway, Palestine, Rwanda, South Africa, South Korea, Syria, the United States, and Yemen.

A possible reason for Tesla's popularity last year could be that the carmaker offered several vehicles in 2021 including Model S, the Cybertruck, Model 3, the Roadster and even the Semi truck.

While the interest in other automakers keep fluctuating each year, brands such as Audi, Hyundai, and Suzuki appeared more in Google searches last year as compared to the year-ago period. Rolls-Royce and Mazda have appeared as the top-searched automaker in at least one country since 2018.

Notably, brands such as Ford, Volvo, Nissan and Peugeot appear to be losing interest in countries in terms of online search as each brand’s ranking has dropped by at least three places. Whereas auto brands such as Volkswagen, Mitsubishi, Alfa Romeo, and Daewoo have not appeared as a top search in either of the 154 countries that were a part of the survey.