After dominating Google search terms in 2019, BMW has fallen back into second place and Toyota has reclaimed the title of most searched car brand in 2020.

According to data analysed by Compare the Market, the last three years have been a battle between Toyota and BMW, with Mercedes-Benz taking third place each year.

The data reveals the search results from 158 countries across 2018, 2019 and 2020. The most recent set of data shows that Toyota was the top searched brand in around a third (34.8%) of all countries analysed, which is a considerable improvement from 17.7% the year before. Search volume for the automotive manufacturer across 2020 was circa 88.02 million.

Toyota announced and released an extensive and unique range of vehicles in 2020, which could contribute to it taking the lead. New model releases such as the GR Yaris, Corolla Cross compact SUV and the C+pod launch all took place throughout last year.

On the contrary, BMW made a significant decline from 2019 to 2020. The brand was number one in 118 countries for 2019 and only 34 countries across 2020. This change reflected an almost 64% drop in search volume year on year.

Despite only holding the first position in 2019, BMW has proven to be the most searched car brand when analysing the three-year period. It accounts for 38.3% of all top searches, compared with Toyota’s 31.3%.

Toyota wasn’t the only brand that saw a boost in popularity in 2020. Partly due to BMW experiencing a significant dip in search interest, brands such as Kia and Ford showed increases ranking 4th and 5th respectively, sitting just below third-place winner Mercedes Benz. Both Kia and Ford shared last place in 2019, each appearing number one in a single country.

To view the map that displays the results in each country as well as the full research, please visit this page.