Toyota is still world's most popular car brand in 2021 

Japanese carmaker Toyota is still the world’s most popular car brand for 2021, according to an Australian price comparison website called comparethemarket.com.au. This is based on the fact that Toyota leads the Google search rankings in 47 out of 154 countries that the website analyzed. That’s around 31 percent of all searches.  

According to the source, Honda is quite popular in the Philippines [Photo: comparethemarket.com.au]

Following Toyota in terms of Google search rankings for 2021 are BMW and Mercedes-Benz, both of which retain their respective positions from 2020. However, Mercedes-Benz has apparently gained more ground compared to BMW, and is slowly catching up to its German rival in many markets. 

Toyota’s significant moves last year could explain its recent popularity. These include several model launches, namely the next-generation Toyota Land Cruiser, the Toyota GR Yaris, the Toyota GR 86, and the all-new Toyota Avanza. 

The company’s Gazoo Racing division also made huge strides by making waves in the world of motorsport. The most recent of these is a solid showing at the ongoing Dakar 2022 rally with the Toyota Hilux. Also, Toyota Gazoo Racing has already announced its respective lineups for the FIA World Rally Championship 2022, FIA World Endurance Championship 2022, and Super GT 2022, among others. 

Apart from those, hype for the Toyota brand name was also generated by Gazoo Racing when it announced that it will be reproducing spare parts for the legendary Corolla Levin and Sprinter Trueno models. These are two iconic Toyota models that remain popular to this day thanks to drifting and pop culture. 

Also, there’s the fact that Toyota unveiled a handful of future electric-powered models in one go during a media briefing back in December 2021. These consist of 15 planned cars, all of which are under the new “beyond zero” or bZ lineup. These of course provide a glimpse of what’s to come for the brand’s future offerings, generating even more attention for Toyota. 

The top five search rankings from 2018 to 2021. [Photo: comparethemarket.com.au]

But while the automaker rode high last year in terms of search volume, Toyota was actually more popular back in 2020, when it gained a slightly larger 34.8 percent of top searches. This is due to the fact that a number of other manufacturers have also come into the limelight in 2021. 

Among these include Audi and Hyundai, which gained better positions in terms of search rankings. There’s also Tesla which seemingly came out of nowhere to gain even greater prominence. 

For more interesting glimpses on the automotive industry, keep it here on the Philippine’s largest automotive portal.