New Delhi: CarDekho, the leading auto-tech firm, today released a trend report on Passenger Cars search on its platform for April – June FY 22. The latest trends indicate massive growth in online searches and changing consumer trends. Across all its digital platforms, the company witnessed 227 million visits in Q1, FY22, a jump of 55% compared to the same period in FY21
The post-Covid world witnessed a dynamic change in consumer patterns. The first Covid wave had nudged users towards personal mobility and the second wave accelerated the move. Consumer behavior has changed drastically in the past year, witnessing changes across ages, segments, and variants.
The biggest change has been the move towards Electric Mobility. The consistent upward movement of fuel prices has impacted customer confidence toward ICE engine-powered vehicles. EVs on the CarDekho platform witnessed a whopping 224 percent growth in Q1 (April, May & June), FY2022 when compared to a similar period in FY2021.
Tata Motors led the search trend in EV space, with Tata Nexon EV being the most searched car with approximately 32% of total traffic. The company’s other model Tata Tigor, along with Nexon and MG ZS EV contributed almost 50% of the total traffic in the EV segment. Delhi was the key city for EV’s searches, followed by other metros and mini-metros. Surprisingly, many tiers 2 and 3 cities like Lucknow, Jaipur, and Patna witnessed a spike in electric vehicle search, marking their presence in the top ten cities in this segment. Other prominent brands searched have been Strom Motors R3, Hyundai Kona, Mahindra E-Verito, MarutiWagonR Electric, and the premium Jaguar I-Pace.
With rising fuel prices, Electric Vehicles saw their search market share grow to 3.39 percent in June 2021 from 1.70 percent last year. Petrol variants continue to dominate search but have witnessed search market share degrowth by over two percent from 52.46 percent to 50 percent whereas the search market share for diesel vehicles has gained a marginal growth by 1%.
Top 10 Cars searched in June 2021 on Cardekho
The SUV and Compact SUV segment continues to sustain customer confidence and searches momentum. The newly introduced Hyundai Alcazar makes a remarkable entry in the Indian market as the most searched car. Maruti and Hyundai continue to dominate the searches with three products each in the top 10 most searched vehicles. Maruti dominated the search with Maruti Swift, WagonRandBaleno, whereas Hyundai led the search with its premium and Compact SUVs such as the newly launched Hyundai Alcazar, Hyundai Creta, and Venue.
The Indian customer’s preference for SUVs and compact SUVscontinues with over seven SUV models among the most searched. Other SUVs that made the top 10 searched vehicles are Kia Seltosand Sonnet, from Korean manufacturer KIA Motors followed by MahindraTharandTATANexon.
Top 10 cities searching cars online on CarDekho in June 2021
Delhi continues to be the leader in online car search on CarDekho in June 2021. Surprisingly, the second, third, ninth and tenth positions were taken by Tier 2 cities like Pune, Lucknow, Patna and Jaipur respectively.
Metrosandmini-metros from the southern and eastern parts of the country also made a strong contribution, with Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Mumbai, and Chennai in fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth place respectively.
Tier 2 and 3 cities dominate the search with over 40 percent.
Automatic transmission catching up the momentum
The Indian customer has been exploring newer technologies and there is a growing trend towards the adaptation of automatic transmission. When compared to a similar period last year, the sector witnessed an average growth of over 3% with a 48.5% share in Q1 as compared to a 45.7% last year. At this rate, automatic transmission cars will soon overtake manual transmission car searches. The search difference between Manual and Automatic transmission has narrowed from 8.3% in Q1 2020 to 3% in Q1 2021.
SUV leads the way
Hatchback and Sedan segments saw a continuous drop in online search share whereas SUVs which sustained a positive momentum after an initial drop in May and June 2020 witnessed a growth of over 11 percent in Q1 2021 with an average of 38.8 percent in Q1 2021 against 27.5 percent in 2020. The Hatchback has been the backbone of the Indian automobile industry for years but after a long time, these segments are witnessing marginal degrowth of less than one percent. The SUV segment now dominates the total searches and consumer interest in India.
Senior Citizens and 45 + customers prefer personal mobility.
Social distancing is the new normal and has impacted the safety concern among senior citizens. The trend witnessed a remarkable over 246 percent growth in search by customers above the age of 65. Similar growth was witnessed among the 55-64 age group (148 percent) and the 45 -54 age group (210 percent).
While the overall average growth in the 18-24 and 25-34 age groups was 70 and 21 percent respectively, the search universe stands highest across the category.
Mobile remained the most popular device for car research
Mobile remained the most popular device for car research with 90% of online car research happening on the device. Within mobile also, more users are now preferring App to WAP as it gives a better experience. This is indicated by the consumer traffic share of the CarDekho Mobile app which has significantly increased compared to Q1, 2020
