Today, a brand’s popularity is determined by its presence on the virtual network with the number of hits, likes, favourites and the number of searches. As per the findings of tech giant Google; BMW and Mercedes-Benz gained top spots for being the most searched luxury auto brands online in India. According to Google Search trends, BMW and Mercedes were the most searched luxury brands during the period from January to August this year, followed by Tata Motors owned Jaguar being third and Audi coming in on the fourth spot.
With a major section of the rich customers being young and tech savvy, several luxury car makers have taken to the internet to create a virtual presence and attract the attention of potential customers. The search results concluded that BMW gained the dominant position as the most searched brand in the beginning of the year but lost momentum with lower search interest, especially during the month of May. During the same period, Mercedes was steadily climbing the charts and overtook BMW by a significant margin in the recent couple of months.
The newest entrant to the list is the British icon Jaguar that dethroned Audi for the third position and further goes on to showcase the rising popularity for the brand in the country. The search trend also showcased a major shift in the locations of searches with smaller towns and cities driving the online searches for luxury cars in India. Cities like Ernakulum, Thiruvananthapuram, Vadodara, Ludhiana and Surat contributed primarily to the most number of searches for Mercedes-Benz, even beating major metros in the process.
Whereas cities like Coimbatore, Surat, Pune, Bhubaneswar, and Chandigarh were more in favour of BMW with Ludhiana leading the pack. Jaguar on the other hand had major searches online coming from Coimbatore, Chinchwad, Chennai, Bangalore, New Delhi and Noida. At a distant fourth, Audi remained more of a choice by major metros like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chandigarh and Chennai across the country. The report further states the luxury car market is set to grow gloriously this year with almost double the growth, crossing a cumulative 50,000 mark of sales in 2014, more than the 32,000 units that were sold in 2013 in the country.
Google states that with big brands looking to target young and rich customers, the internet plays a very important role in building and shaping a brand. Despite the limited presence, it will play a major contributor to the success of the new vehicles that the automakers will be launching in the coming months. Most luxury carmakers have also shifted focus towards premium compact vehicles that aim to attract younger customers who choose to drive, instead of being driven.
