The Google data analysed by Compare The Market shows that Toyota is losing ground to rivals including Mercedes-Benz and BMW.

Customers searching Toyota have moved away from the car-maker with a fall-off rate of 35 per cent in 2021 compared with 2020.

Compare The Market said that in the four years since it started publishing the report, Toyota, BMW and Mercedes have remained a consistent trio on the podium, with Toyota on top in 2018, 2020 and 2021.

The online comparison platform said that an anomaly was 2019 “where BMW secured the win in a whopping 118 countries, leaving its competitors in the dust.”

“The impressive lead contributed to BMW holding the title of most searched across all four years, on average.”

Mercedes-Benz has sat in third place each year but it increasingly gains viewer interest. In 2021 the brand closed the gap by almost 70 per cent, sitting only six countries short of second place in comparison to 2020 where it was 19 behind.

“Audi also saw considerable improvement in its ranking,” the platform said.

“Not only did the brand more than double the number of countries where it was the top search (from five to 11 countries in 2021), its ranking position increased from sixth to fourth this year.”

In 2021, Compare The Market added Tesla for the first time. Although Tesla appeared in the top three searches for 24 countries, only five countries listed the brand as their top search (China, Hong Kong, Israel, Macau and Singapore).

“In contrast, brands such as Ford, Nissan and Peugeot appear to be losing speed in the race,” the report said.

“Each search term’s ranking dropped by at least three places, with Ford barely scraping into ninth place in comparison to fifth place in 2020.”

Compare The Market said there were many reasons to explain why Toyota remained in the top spot.

“In November 2021, Toyota Gazoo Racing announced that it would start reproducing spare parts for its Corolla Levin and Sprinter Trueno makes,” it said.

“These parts had previously been discontinued, but with the reintroduction of them, car lovers could continue driving and enjoying vehicles from the past. 

“Toyota also launched a suite of other vehicles in 2021. This included a full line-up of electric cars that reduce CO2 emission, the world-first Corolla SUV and a completely redesigned LandCruiser.”

Toyota has also been named as the number six brand on the 2022 Forbes Halo 100 list (powered by HundredX) for 2021.

It is the best performing car brand but not the only car-maker to make the Top-100 with Subaru in 10th; Tesla at 51st; and Mazda at 100.

According to HundredX’s survey respondents said key strengths for Toyota were quality, reliability and performance. In performance, it scored 28 per cent higher than its competitors and 12 per cent higher than the industry average.

When asked whether they would buy another Toyota, 80 per cent of customers said they would. 

When comparing Toyota to other auto brands, the company outperformed dozens of other car brands, edging ahead of Ford to be the most relevant brand and being beaten only by Lexus (another Toyota subsidiary) in terms of its net promoter score.

In terms of demographics, Toyota outperformed other car brands in every age group other than people in their 30s, according to HundredX.

By Neil Dowling