Japanese carmaker Toyota has emerged as the most-searched-for passenger car brand in the world. In a survey conducted for year 2018 by insurance company Veygo, Toyota has topped the charts in 57 of the 171 countries that participated in the 42 car brands study. It is followed by German automaker BMW, which topped the list in 25 countries, with Mercedes-Benz (23 countries) rounding off the top three.

Toyota was also the most searched globally with 7.8m searches per month, followed by Honda (7m) and Ford (6.4m). While the majority of countries search for the cars that they are likely to actually buy, 12 countries around the world conduct more searches for the luxury sport car brand Lamborghini, than any other.

Interesingly, seven countries have embraced Elon Musk’s eco-friendly electric alternative, with Tesla their most searched brand (including Norway, the Netherlands and Hong Kong).

In India, not surprisingly, Maruti Suzuki tops the list of most-searched-for car brands. The survey was conducted by Veygo and was based on data from the Google search engine. Maruti Suzuki, which has a stranglehold in the Indian passenger vehicle market, has an over 50 percent share and typically has seven of its models in the country's 10 best-selling PVs every month.

As per data collected, Toyota topped the search charts in Australia, the US, Canada, the Middle-East and a large portion of East, Central and Southern Africa. Interestingly, Mercedes-Benz was quite popular in West Africa and beat out its rival, BMW, to be the most searched brand in its home market of Germany.

However, Maruti Suzuki and Mercedes-Benz are not the only brands to be popular in their home markets. French carmaker Renault dominated searches in France, while Volvo held the top spot in Sweden. Perodua is the most popular car brand in its home market of Malaysia.

Korean brand Hyundai topped the list of most-searched-for car brand in Russia, while Tesla held the top spot in markets like China, Norway and Holland. Honda was popular in many Southeast Asian countries.

Data: courtesy Veyg