Toyota, the Japanese car giant, has held its position as the market leader in Australia for the past 20 years in a row and attracted over 23 million visits to its website last year, according to data compiled by digital analytics firm Similarweb. The figures also showed that interest in hybrid and electric vehicles hit record highs last year. Toyota attracted 1.4 million visits to its hybrid vehicle pages alone, which represented 45% of all Australian hybrid vehicle traffic to manufacturer websites in 2022. Meanwhile, Mazda was the second most searched car website in Australia, with 7.7 million visits last year, down 8.5% from the previous year.
South Korean carmaker Kia surged in popularity, with website traffic up by 12.6%, rising from 6.4 million in 2021 to 7.2 million in 2022. Hyundai’s website traffic was also strong, up 4.3% from 6.4 million in 2021 to 6.7 million in 2022. Other brands that saw an increase in website traffic included Mitsubishi, Tesla, MG, and GWM Haval.
In contrast, the data also revealed some downturns in website traffic for certain brands. Visits to the official Australian websites for Suzuki and Isuzu Ute were down last year, while Chinese brands continued to grow. LDV, which was outsold by GWM Haval last year, still had more traffic to its website. The figures also showed that Holden had more visitors to its website than Chinese arrival BYD, despite the Holden brand being axed in Australia by US car giant General Motors two years ago.
Additionally, the data highlighted a shift in consumer preference for small cars. Of the top-three small-car sellers, the Hyundai i30 received the most searches on its official website, posting 103,988 visits last year, ahead of the Mazda 3 and Toyota Corolla. The pint-sized Suzuki Jimny four-wheel-drive also proved popular, recording high search volumes on Suzuki’s official website, despite wait times of up to 12 months on some models.
Overall, Similarweb’s data lays bare the changing tastes in cars and automotive brands, revealing the surge of interest in hybrid and electric vehicles, as well as the growing popularity of Chinese car manufacturers in Australia.
