Last year, the BMW 3 Series was the most searched for car on Auto Trader, giving the 3 Series its sixth consecutive year with that accolade. It’s not really surprising, as the 3 Series is one of the most popular small executive sedans, if not the most popular, in America. It’s the go-to car for anyone that just got the big promotion. But what’s semi-surprising is that it beat out very new competition.
The brand-new Mercedes-Benz C-Class recently hit the ‘States and promises big luxury in a small package with flashy looks and an impressive interior. It’s also the shiny new car in the segment, which one would think would make it the most popular. But no, the old man in the segment, the aging BMW 3 Series, is still number one. The C-Class was still popular though, being the number three most searched car on Auto Trader.
BMW managed to make two other appearances on the list, as well, giving the Bavarian brand the most cars featured. The BMW 5 Series came in as the fifth most searched car with the 1 Series right behind it, as the sixth. Mercedes-Benz had two cars on this list, the aforementioned C-Class and the E-Class, which came in ninth. The other big German, Audi, only made one appearance with the A3 all the way down at eighth place.
So despite being the oldest car in its segment, it’s still popular among that segment’s buyers. While a lot of that is just brand recognition, as everyone knows the 3 Series to be the segment leader, it still was more searched than much newer cars. Also, there’s no information on the correlation between searches and purchases, so we don’t know how many people searched 3 Series’ and actually bought them. However, this does show the popularity of the 3 Series and how it’s still very much alive.
[Source: MotorTrader]
