Using Google Trends data compiled last year, Honda surged to the top spot driven by searches related to the Civic and CR-V in the Philippines. It must be remembered that Honda did tease, and subsequently unveiled the design prototype for its all-new eleventh-generation Civic late last year. This could have contributed greatly to the brand’s surge in search rankings locally.

Globally though, there’s a new brand at the top of the most desired list, and that’s Toyota. The Japanese auto giant reclaimed the title of the most searched car brand in 2020 thanks to strong showings related to the GR Yaris and Corolla Cross. In the Philippines, the top Toyota-related keywords are the Corolla Cross, Vios and Fortuner.

Out of 158 countries surveyed around the world, Toyota was the top searched brand making up the top spot in about a third (34.8 percent) of all countries. This is a considerable improvement from its 2019 ranking which was only at 17.7 percent.

On the contrary, BMW made a significant decline from 2019 to 2020, where the brand was number one in 118 countries for 2019, and only 34 countries across 2020. This change reflected an almost 64 percent drop in search volume year on year.

Despite only holding the first position in 2019, BMW has proven to be the most searched car brand when analyzing the three-year period (2018 to 2020). It accounts for 38.3 percent of all top searches, compared with Toyota’s 31.3 percent.

Toyota wasn’t the only brand that saw a boost in popularity in 2020. Partly due to BMW experiencing a significant dip in search interest, brands such as Kia and Ford showed increases ranking 4th and 5th respectively, sitting just below third-place winner Mercedes Benz. Both Kia and Ford shared last place in 2019, each appearing number one in a single country.

Source: CompareTheMarket