Ford tops Google poll for most bought car brand in UK
Ford was the most bought car brand last year for both new and used cars, with Audi taking second place for new car buyers, according to Google’s annual gearshift report.
The report, scheduled to coincide with the Frankfurt Motor Show this week, revealed the majority (85 per cent) of car buyers use online resources to cement their purchase decisions for cars.
Manufacturer sites and search engines are seen as the go-to source for information by new car buyers, while used car buyers seek out classified ad listing sites and search engines for their research.
More than 70 per cent of car buyers use search engines in their research, with new car buyers watching twice as many (42 per cent) online videos as used car buyers.
The videos are sourced mainly from YouTube and Facebook and videos that demonstrate specific car brands or features are the most popular, along with video reviews.
Offline resources are also used in the purchase process, mainly involving a visit to the car showroom. Yet this is more common for new car buyers, with 88 per cent of them using offline resources, compared to only 65 per cent of used car buyers.
However, even on smartphones the car research primarily happens at home with about half of the car buyers with smartphones do research on their phone at home, compared to a third who do so at work and a third while traveling.
Buyers tend to use whichever device is at their disposal in any location, with one in five buyers using their smartphone to do research when visiting a dealer or seller.
This summer Google released a report to show tablet usage in the UK had tripled year on year, taking the total to 30 per cent of the population, while smartphone usage had doubled to 62 per cent.
A Google spokesperson said: "It is becoming increasingly important for companies to reach consumers across devices and offer them advertising that matches their context: their location, the time of day and the device they are using.
"Someone searching for a car on a smartphone within a certain radius of a showroom and within opening hours should get a different ad than someone doing the same search on a laptop or tablet in the evening at home. In the first case, an offer with a single-click navigation to the nearest showroom would be more suitable. But in the latter case, a link towards a test-drive website with video content could suit better."
The report monitored the car buying habits of 37,200 people across 22 countries including the UK.