What was the most searched car brand in New Zealand this year?

If you were to guess what the most searched car brand in New Zealand was this year, there’s a strong chance you’d be right.

For the sixth year in a row, Kiwis looked up Toyota more than any other carmaker according to new Google Trends data compiled by Compare the Market.

Second place also comes as no surprise, with Tesla being the next most-searched-for car brand in New Zealand, followed by Mazda in third.

It’s a similar story when we look at each brand’s popularity on a global scale, with Toyota once again topping the charts to become the world’s most looked-up carmaker.

A total of 64 countries listed Toyota as the most searched moniker in 2023, slightly less than the previous year’s figure.

What we didn’t expect was such a sharp turnaround for Tesla, which was the second most searched-for marque in the world this year after not even touching the rankings in 2022.

Tesla was the number one nameplate in 29 of the 155 countries surveyed.

The third-most searched brand in the world this year was BMW, which only topped 26 countries’ lists in 2023 compared to 36 in 2022.

Rival brand Mercedes-Benz also saw a drop in popularity after its five-year third-place streak came to an end in 2023. It was the fifth most searched car brand this year.