The takeaway

Car brand website traffic fell 11% across the ‘Big 5’ markets in 2020, while battery electric registrations more than doubled.

In this insightThe digital automotive year in review2020 in numbersThe outlook for 2021Download the report

The digital automotive year in review

For much of 2020, car showrooms were shuttered and brands were forced to rely on digital channels to stay in contact with customers and to transact with them. Sophus3’s annual review, drawing on eDataXchange data, looks at the impact of the pandemic on the industry: what changed, what stayed the same, and the challenges ahead.

2020 in numbers

  • Traffic to car brand websites in the ‘Big 5’ European markets fell 56% in April, then recovered over the summer.
  • Over the full year, visits fell 11% year on year in the ‘Big 5’ markets and 13% globally.
  • 58% of site visits came from small-screen devices, up 8%, despite many people being confined to home.
  • SUVs remained the most visited segment online, while interest in electric vehicles rose sharply as government subsidies were announced.
  • Visits to car brand YouTube channels recovered and grew; interactions through Facebook fell.
  • Automotive print and TV advertising spend fell dramatically in April and had recovered to only 66% of its 2019 level by year end.
  • ‘Big 5’ registrations fell 25%, the worst on record, but registrations of battery electric vehicles more than doubled in Europe.
  • There were 129 car brand website visits for every car sold in 2020, effectively a 20% increase in conversion difficulty.

The outlook for 2021

  • The constraints imposed by the virus could not be assumed to disappear quickly.
  • The full economic impact would only become clear once government support programmes ended.
  • Car market recovery depended on economic recovery, and hopes of even 7 to 9% growth looked optimistic.
  • EVs and hybrids looked set to win a larger market share.
  • New models of car usership might make the market less exposed to a downturn than it was after 2008.
  • Car brands needed to keep strengthening their digital capabilities to meet expectations of rapid, personalised service and fulfilment.

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Download The Digital Car Buyer in Numbers 2021 (PDF, 26 pages)

All figures and forecasts relate to the report’s April 2021 publication. For a later view of the digital car buyer, read the 2023 edition.

Originally published by Sophus3 in April 2021. Figures and forecasts relate to that publication period.