[Ranga]

Very intersting article released yesterday from google .



Mods if this article is already been discussed , please delete this thread



India Auto Industry Googled!!!! - Google India releases Auto Industry Report based on the search query trends


Key Highlights:

? Indian consumers are ahead of US and Europe in using the Internet to research for Car & Bikes purchases
? In terms of search query volumes - Auto vertical has taken off in last two years and is growing faster than key verticals like travel, consumer electronics & finance
? Vehicle shopping queries account for 49% of all auto related queries on Google
? Entry & Mid segment cars in the price range of (2 to 6 lakhs) are the most searched
? Diesel cars are big in demand and registered triple digit growth in 2010, search queries for diesel cars saw 52% growth in April to May 2011 when petrol fuel prices increased by Rs 5/ltr
? SUVs are the second most searched car category, followed by luxury cars which is the fastest growing car category
? Search queries for bikes saw over 96% in query volumes in 2010

*See Most Searched car launches and Most Searched Auto Brands for 2010.

Mumbai, 9th August, 2011: Google India released a report on the auto sector in India today, providing deep insights into consumer search trends in the sector. A compilation of consumer search behavior in the auto category (Cars & Bikes) in the last two years (‘09 & ‘10), the “‘Google India Auto Report’, underlines how Indian consumers are increasingly relying on the Internet to make auto purchase decisions.

Speaking about the trends observed in the report, Rajan Anandan Vice President and MD of Google India, said, “The report shows how crucial the Internet has become in influencing purchase decisions of the consumers. In the last two years, we’ve seen great traction amongst the players in the auto vertical as they continue to embrace digital advertising to engage car & bikes shoppers online. We have seen over 150% growth in revenues from the auto sector in 2010 and we expect the share of auto advertising spends on digital to grow significantly in the next few years”

The boom in the auto Industry in India was reflected in the search behavior of Indian users on Google. According to the report, the auto vertical witnessed tremendous growth in online searches registering 110% and 84% growth in 2009 and 2010 respectively on Google Search. The trend continues to show fast paced growth this year withthe auto category showing a growth of 72% in the first six months of 2011 over same period last year. The auto vertical is now alsothe fastest-growing vertical compared to other key verticals like consumer electronics, finance and travel.

The online search behavior of consumers mirrors the offline world, as query volumes on Google search see a 38% increase over first half of the year as Indian consumers tend to make auto purchases during the festive season (2009 to 2010). Indians are also more research oriented when it comes to auto related purchases, with 65% Indians using the Internet as the first place to do their research before deciding on the vehicle of their choice. This is ahead of consumers in mature markets like US and Europe where only 62% of users use Internet as their first stop.

Cars:

In cars, entry and mid segment cars in the price range of (2 lakhs upto 6 lakhs), the highest selling car category by volumes in India, was also the most-searched category registering over 50% year on year growth in query volumes. In terms of type of queries, vehicle-shopping queries accounted for over 49% of all cars related queries. Interestingly, in-spite of the choices available in fuel efficient small cars category, Diesel cars queries saw a huge jump in query volumes registering 114% growth in 2010. Rising petrol prices weighed on car buyers mind as diesel car queries saw a jump of 52% in the period of April 2011 to May 2011 when petrol prices increased by 5 Rs/litre.

The search queries also reflected a strong trend of India’s growing appetite for bigger and luxury cars with SUVs emerging as the second most searched cars category registering over 61% growth yoy, followed by Luxury cars in the price range of (15 lakhs to 30 lakhs) which emerged as the fastest growing car category showing a growth of 141% from June 2010 to May 2011 over the same period in ‘09 to ‘10.


In the period of 2010 till May 2011 India saw over 25 new cars or variant launches. Amongst all the new car launches the following top 10 cars were the most searched car launches:

Most Searched Car Launches/Variants: From Jan 2010 to May 2011

1.Maruti Alto K10
2.Ford Figo
3.Hyundai i10 - next gen
4.Maruti Kizashi
5.Chevrolet Beat
6.Nissan Micra
7.New Hyundai Verna -Fluidic
8.VW Polo
9.Toyota Etios
10.Maruti SX4 Diesel

Note: Data compiled on basis of search query volumes for car models 5 weeks prior and 5 weeks after the launch

The list again reflects price sensitive nature of the Indian market with newer brands and launches capturing user’s attention.

Most Searched Auto Brands: Jan 2010 to May 2011

Most Searched Car OEM’s Brands
Most Searched Bike Brands
1.Maruti
2.Honda
3.Hyundai
4.General Motors
5.Tata Motors
6.Toyota
7.Ford
8.VW
9.Fiat
1.Hero Honda
2.Bajaj
3.Yamaha
4. TVS


Amongst other notable trends, Car finance queries also saw steep increase of over 51% percent in 2010. Indians used Google to find out more details about car models, to visit auto websites, do price comparison, used car research and new launch research. Auto parts queries formed 26% of all car queries again highlighting the use of Internet to find more details about auto parts, dealer and service center network.

Bikes with Gears: Motor Cycles

Searches for bikes makes and models also show robust growth ahead of cars, with bike related queries growing 96% in 2010. Premium level bikes/motorcycles i.e. bikes in 150 cc plus segment saw maximum query volumes and registered 90% yoy growth (from Jan 2010 to May 2011 compared to same time last last year). Deluxe i.e bikes in 125cc to 150cc are the fastest growing category registering 193% growth in query volumes. Entry-level bike category also showed a strong growth trend growing at 90% yoy.

The report also looked into the search habit of mobile Internet users for the auto vertical. With an estimated base of over 40 million mobile Internet users, mobile searches for auto related queries also reflected a strong growth momentum - growing at over 300% in 2010. The trend of using smartphones for doing product related searches is also showing a significant growth.

Google Inc.

Google's innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by Stanford PhD. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property in all major global markets. Google's targeted advertising program provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall web experience for users. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit Google.

Note from Support: Threads Merged. Please search for existing threads before posting a new thread. Thanks

[GTO]

Originally Posted by rameshnanda

Also, very surprising to see that Fluidic Verna has made within few months of launch.

I've said this before and will say it again : The Fluidic has struck a chord with the masses. The junta absolutely loves its design & features. The sedan has generated unusually high interest around itself, much more so than any other recent sedan launch.

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Maruti and Nissan should take of this. Two cases of missed opportunities, where companies could not cash in on market hype/ interest, because of poor pricing/ perceived VFM.

I think the Micra is well-priced. But with 10 dealers (at the time of launch), you can only go so far.

Originally Posted by kaks15

Is the complete report available on the net free or paid?? Or if you have the same can you please share it?

Originally Posted by FourWheelDrift

@GTO, could we have a link to the actual report ?

Ranga just posted the entire write-up in the post above.

Originally Posted by amitwlele

Does the report also show details of the top sites viewed based on the search results? Does T-BHP figure in it.

If they did, I can bet you that Team-BHP would easily be on that list.

[anekho]

Originally Posted by vb-san

Honda is there as the 2nd most searched brand, but none of the Honda models are there in the most searched cars list! Interesting

That probably has to do with the bikes they make! Google can't differentiate if someone is looking for cars or bikes when they search with terms like 'Honda India'.

[NikhilReddy]

Nice report by Google.

It is not surprising that Indians google more then US or Europeans. Few reasons that I can think off:

- Most of the websites are difficult to type directly and equally difficult to recall... so you google and get to the site.

- The above point drives the behavior of running comparison search and they read read till they finally decide to decide on purchase.

- While word out mouth is important, internet is gives you a medium to verify and clarify.

- Buzz around new launches could also be one of the reason.

[FourWheelDrift]

Originally Posted by GTO

Ranga just posted the entire write-up in the post above.

@GTO, is the write-up posted above the report itself ? Or is this only the press release from Google, announcing that they have released the report ?

Just thinking if there are any more interesting nuggets buried in a comprehensive / detailed "Google India's Auto Industry Report", rather than the highlights quoted in the press release.

Cheers,

FourWheelDrift

[man_and_machine]

Unlike any search results data, this too might yield a different picture. All the searches do not lead to sales, or rather many searches are not for sale, they are could for information gathering purposes too. For instance take the search for kizashi, you want to know what it is just to see what is new, this is typical pattern when there is a new launch.
What is more interesting is to know the search pattern for a product, is the search frequent and the rate constant? This shows genuine buying interest, which is more sustained.
But nevetheless, the results also show an urban trend, especially to decide the priority of TD.
One thing is for sure, if you do not have a good online documentation of your cars now, its a lost opportunity!

@Mods: Is the team-bhp content opened to google search?

[sidoza]

Originally Posted by man_and_machine

@Mods: Is the team-bhp content opened to google search?

I am no Mod, but yes it is!

Coming back to the report, its very heartening to know the growth in search related to all these big budget items. Goes to show that people are making informed decisions and figuring things out online for their favorite brands etc.

Information like this levels the playing field for the average joe, and information on things like discounts, quality, new launches, experience etc. help a great deal in making an informed decision.

Also depicts the strong penetration of internet & broadband en masse, since the queries cover a broad spectrum of products, from entry level bikes to >10 Lac cars!

Curiously, dream car queries have not figured in the top ten, suggesting we lot as a whole are more practical. )

P.S. : Google Trends can be used to figure out these queries for yourself as well.

[Ranga]

Not sure how many of us have been influenced by Team BHP before our car buy .Most of my friends have read the threads , understood the SWOT of every car available in India by reading our site ( Team BHP )

Frank Unbiased opinions with excellent Moderation helps this decision making

[BurningHeart]

Is there some analysis of the linkies, made available? I am sure m.team-bhp.com and Team-BHP - The Definitive Indian Car Community - Portal will be two of the top research links people use.

BH.

[Dr.Suraj]

Thanks GTO.

As usual, an unusual mix of stats!

Tata Motors featuring AHEAD of Toyota & VW - quite a surprise.
Maybe the Nano or the Aria caused this?

Also,
in the bikes section - no mention of Honda was also a bit of a surprise to be honest.

[viggienomad]

Originally Posted by FourWheelDrift

@GTO is the write-up posted above the report itself ? Or is this only the press release from Google, announcing that they have released the report ?

Eager to know. I'm sure it's not publicly available. The complete report will be a valuable set of statistics for Auto Industry. Does google offer it only for Auto Industry or Companies registered with CII / SIAM? Waiting for @GTO to shed light on this.

[sidoza]

Originally Posted by viggienomad

Eager to know. I'm sure it's not publicly available. The complete report will be a valuable set of statistics for Auto Industry. Does google offer it only for Auto Industry or Companies registered with CII / SIAM? Waiting for @GTO to shed light on this.

All of this information, including queries, search volume and even cities from where they originate is publicly accessible through Google. Year wise grouping can be done as well.

Even things like approx. traffic stats and comparison of websites including visitors, traffic sources and even year on year growth data is available.

This all will be raw data of course and the report will be much more concise and filtered for easy consumption.

Perhaps the long weekend will provide a small window for me to share this with fellow bhp-ians. Will give it a shot if possible.

[mdsaab]

This is a very interesting report.
Was not aware that so many folks surfed the net for car details before their purchase.
But one thing is surely true, before we do lay down our money we would like to know almost everything about the product before we do.

And with many searching for their car related answers from their smart phones. The Team-BHP applications for androids and the I brigades.
could not have come at a better time.
This will ensure folks get unbiased advice and info if they do decide to search on Team-BHP. T-BHP being what it is, i am sure they will get here. and FAST!

Regarding the most searched car launches / variants.
That's a very interesting list indeed. Quite a few there on the list, which have struggled to live up to their manufacturers expectations.

Most searched Auto Brands ~ I am really happy to see Honda at No. 2

Most searched bike brands however did not throw up any surprises, ok well maybe i was expecting Bajaj to be on top.

[volkman10]

Google India Releases Car & Bike Search Trends... India leads !

"Google India has released a report which gives insights on the search trends of cars and bikes in the automobile industry. The search engine giant’s report suggests that Indians are ahead of US and Europe consumers when it comes for deciding on a particular vehicle using the internet as a research tool. Furthermore, the search for automobiles is growing faster than consumer electronics and travel. 49% of total auto related searches on Google saw queries related to vehicle shopping, with Rs. 2-6 lakh segment being the most searched for. Search for diesel cars was slightly higher than petrol cars, while SUVs were the second most searched car category, followed by luxury cars."

Cheers!

http://http://www.motorbeam.com/news...search-trends/

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Google Zeitgeist list is out, for the 7 most google searched cars of 2011, and some results are quite surprising. Here is the list-

Source- Rediff business. Pardon me for not posting the link as I'm posting this from my droid.

EDIT - Source

1. Hyundai Eon.
2. Honda Brio.
3. Mahindra XUV 5OO.
4. Nissan Sunny!
5. Maruti suzuki Kizashi!
6. TATA Aria.
7. Volkswagen Passat.

Kizashi, Aria and Passat seem to be classic examples of customer enthusiasm not blossoming into sales due to high pricing. Nissan Sunny diesel is also following the same footsteps IMO.

Surprisingly, new Swift, highly acclaimed Verna etc never made it to the list!

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