The world’s most desired motors
The car brand each country searches for most, from Toyota across the Americas to Tesla in China.
If you could drive any car in the world, what would it be? A sports car, a luxury saloon or an electric car? To find out which car brands the world wants most, we looked at how often people search for them.
We took the average monthly Google searches for 42 of the world’s best-known car brands in 171 countries. The brand each country searches for most is its most desired motor.
The most desired car brand in each country
What we found
- Toyota is the most searched brand in 57 of the 171 countries, more than any other. BMW leads in 25 countries and Mercedes-Benz in 23.
- Toyota also has the most searches worldwide, at 7.8 million a month, ahead of Honda (7 million) and Ford (6.4 million).
- 12 countries search more for Lamborghini than for any other brand.
- 7 countries search most for Tesla, including Norway, the Netherlands and Hong Kong.
- Only 5 countries search most for a brand from home: France (Renault), Germany (Mercedes-Benz), India (Maruti Suzuki), Malaysia (Perodua) and Sweden (Volvo).
Favourites around the world
| Country | Most searched car brand |
|---|---|
| United Kingdom | Mercedes-Benz |
| United States | Toyota |
| Canada | Toyota |
| Australia | Toyota |
| Mexico | Chevrolet |
| Brazil | Honda |
| Russia | Hyundai |
| China | Tesla |
| Japan | BMW |
| India | Maruti Suzuki |
| France | Renault |
| Germany | Mercedes-Benz |
| Sweden | Volvo |
| Norway | Tesla |
| Netherlands | Tesla |
Most countries search for the cars they’re most likely to buy, which is why Toyota, one of the world’s biggest-selling brands, leads so many. The surprises are the dream brands. Lamborghini tops the searches in 12 countries, and Tesla’s lead in China and Norway shows how quickly electric cars caught the world’s attention.
How we did it
We used the Keyword Explorer tool at Ahrefs to find the average monthly Google searches over 12 months for 42 car brands in 171 countries. A small number of countries were left out because there wasn’t enough search data. Ahrefs estimates search volumes from clickstream data and Google’s own figures. We published the research in September 2018.
You can see every brand and country in our research spreadsheet.
Dreaming of your next car?
Before you fall for a dream car, check what it costs to run and insure. Our guides to choosing your first car and car insurance groups explain what to look for. Thinking about going electric? Read electric cars and temporary car insurance.
