I have a very simple analogy here: The more the stylish car, the less practical it becomes.
The more powerful the engine means less fuel economy, and the greater the handling thrills typically means less comfort or refinement. So, when thinking about buying a new vehicle – should the likes of BMW, Mercedes, and Land Rover (for example) always come out on top because they are the most popular?
Well for me, it’s about something else.
I have always bought a new vehicle based on my ‘feelings’ if that’s still allowed. For instance, only recently my partner bought herself a new car and the salesman spent most of his time explaining to her why she should only buy this car because everything else out on the open road was total rubbish. Even when she explained to the gentleman that she liked the vehicle that was on offer, but it was not all about horsepower and a pumping stereo.
This got me thinking, are we allowed to buy what we want – or do we just follow what our neighbour ‘Barry’ has just bought, and then go over budget just to go one better than him?
For instance, many years ago a bought a Fiat 500 ‘Lounge’. A very nice car and very pretty, but my neighbour was not impressed because he still owned a 1995 Vauxhall Astra. So, the very next week he went out and bought an Abarth 500. For those that don’t know this, this is a ‘beefed up’ Fiat 500.
Of course, I was very happy for him until one Saturday morning he spent 2hrs wasting his and my time telling me why his car was far more superior to my Fiat 500 and how my vehicle had none of the extras his vehicle had. Again, I am a calm gentleman and I allowed him drone on for some time before I stopped him and said: ‘To be honest Brian, I just like the look of the Fiat 500, that’s why I bought it’. I could immediately see his eyes wobbling, while he struggled to understand what I had just said.
This is my point; do we all have to go with the ‘most popular car brand’ or should we just go with what we feel. To be honest – I always go with my gut.
Anyway, If you are still struggling on this subject, then take a look at comparethemarket.com because they have produced a very useful world map which shows what people worldwide were searching for regarding different car brands in 2020 than they were the previous year.
This new data shows that BMW, dominated the searches in 2019, only to be overtaken by Toyota in 2020 in many other countries. The data also includes what other car brands people were searching for in 2020 and how these searches varied between different countries and the previous years.
By analysing all the Google Trends data for the top searched vehicle brands for 158 countries including Google in 2018, 2019 and 2020, comparethemarket were able to create a fantastic map that shows 21 of the world’s most searched vehicle brands. This is useful information.
So, maybe it’s not all about ‘feelings’ in the end, but more about what’s currently trending. Although I have to say most of the people down my street either own a BMW or a Toyota, so something is going on all the same. Thanks Google.
