While the auto industry is undoubtedly looking ahead to driverless cars and automation, drivers are looking to enhance their cars—and their in-car experiences—today. Current trends have implications for automakers and a host of accessory marketers. These will likely set the direction for the vehicles of tomorrow.
To determine how drivers are looking to improve their car experiences, we identified the biggest search trends in the sector by pulling top-volume queries related to the automotive category. For this report, we looked beyond Google Search to YouTube data. We also spoke to over 1,000 consumers across three markets to better understand how the trends manifest in people’s lives.
This allowed us to uncover trends unique to three major markets: the U.S., Germany, and Japan. Americans are outfitting their cars for their pets. Germans seem obsessed with digital radio and other updates. And the Japanese are turning their cars into living rooms.
But across all markets, we see a consistent trend in consumers searching to bring on-board cameras into their vehicles. Many cars already feature back-up cameras, but car shoppers are looking for different types of cameras to meet different needs as they prioritize safety and security.
This creates an opportunity for camera and accessory marketers, but the auto industry should also be thinking about how to integrate new styles of on-board cameras directly into vehicle design.
To see more about trending searches for on-board cameras and how drivers are looking to improve their car experiences, download the full report.
