Occasions: Schweizer family likes the star
TOP TEN The most popular car brands on the online market in Switzerland in 2019 are from Germany. Mercedes-Benz tops the ranking for the first time. Special preferences apply depending on the region. Subaru, for example, is in demand in the mountainous canton of Graubünden, and Ticino residents go for Italian brands. This is shown by an analysis of comparis.ch, the largest online marketplace for new cars and [...]
Subaru, for example, is in demand in the mountainous canton of Graubünden, and Ticino residents prefer Italian brands. This is shown in an analysis by comparis.ch, the largest online marketplace for new and used cars in Switzerland.
Acceleration of digital projects
The virus is setting the pace in the Swiss car market: The Corona crisis is accelerating the implementation of digital projects. For example, the two largest car importers (Amag and Emil Frey Group) have launched new online car stores during the past few weeks. But which brands are in demand on the Internet?
Popularity of German brands
comparis.ch investigated this question and took a close look at the most searched-for car brands online in 2019. The result: five of the ten most popular car brands come from the northern neighbor (Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, BMW, Audi and Porsche). In contrast, only two non-European brands (Toyota and Ford) make it into the top ten.
Diesel scandal has little impact
Comparis mobility expert Andrea Auer: "German brands have always been popular with Swiss drivers. Isolated missteps such as the diesel scandal have had little to no impact. The manufacturers owe this customer loyalty not least to the strong brands they have built up over the years."
Star at the top of the podium
The most searched car brand on comparis.ch in 2019 is Mercedes-Benz for the first time, with a search query share of 10.9 percent. The brand recorded a steep rise: In 2017, the Stuttgart-based company was still in 4th place among the most searched-for car brands.
Close on its heels is last year's winner Volkswagen, just 0.1 percentage points behind (10.8 percent share). They are followed by the BMW and Audi brands, each with a 9.9 percent share of search queries.
Porsche ahead of Toyota, Ford and Volvo
Six percentage points behind, the Porsche sports car brand makes it into fifth place among the most searched-for car brands online. It is followed by Toyota in sixth place (3.6 percent), Ford in seventh (3.3 percent) and Volvo in eighth (3.0 percent). Skoda and Renault bring up the rear in the rankings.
New cars more popular than used cars
Andrea Auer: "Skoda, the brand with the best-selling model in 2019, is only in 9th place in the ranking of online searches. In the statistics for new car registrations, however, the manufacturer is found in fifth place. This is an indication that the brand is more popular as a new car than it is for used cars."
The picture is reversed for the Porsche, Toyota and Volvo brands. These perform slightly better in the online ranking than for new cars.
Subaru only in the top 10 in Graubünden
The Subaru brand, known for 4×4 drive, makes it into the top 10 of the most popular car brands only in the canton of Graubünden. The Asian brand climbs from 9th to 6th place with a search query share of 3.5 percent.
In addition, Suzuki, another brand popular for all-wheel drive, is also in the top 10 of all searches in the mountain canton, ranking seventh.
Italian brands wanted in Ticino
As in 2018, Fiat is in fifth place in the search queries in the canton of Ticino. Otherwise, the brand with the cult car Fiat 500 does not make it into the ranking of the top ten in any other canton.
The Alfa Romeo brand also made it into the top 10 for the first time, meaning that two brands from our southern neighbor are in demand in Italian-speaking Switzerland.
