Nigeria secured the highest year on year growth when it came to motor vehicle related online search inquiries in emerging markets, with 89 per cent growth rate, according to a white paper released by Nigeria’s online car marketplace, Carmudi.com. Titled ‘The booming automotive industry in emerging markets’ the white paper highlighted among other things, the purchasing behaviours in Nigeria, the internet’s role in car sales and trends between GDP per capita and car ownership in Nigeria and other emerging markets.

According to the study, Nigeria beat 20 other Middle East and African markets, as far as the internet is concerned as a driver of car sales, with 89 per cent followed by Tanzania and Bangladesh with 71 and 69 per cent respectively.

The report noted that “There is no reason to doubt that emerging markets will rapidly catch up to these figures. Evidence of this phenomenon can be seen when looking at automotive Google search queries as the year over year search growth has been astonishing particularly in Africa.”

Nigeria’s e-commerce space has witnessed significant growth in the last three years, driven by 58.3 percent internet growth and about 32.7 mobile penetration. On the purchasing behaviour in Nigeria, the report noted that “50 percent of car dealers in Nigeria surveyed during the preparation of the report, saw a decrease in sales as a result of slowing sales and naira devaluation before and during the general elections in the country. However, 30 per cent said they saw an increase in sales due to the changing economic climate and infrastructure in Nigeria.”

Speaking during the presentation of the white paper before journalists in Lagos, Carmudi’s Managing Director in Nigeria, Christian Keller said the report was inspired by dearth of reliable data in the auto markets in Nigeria, especially for dealers and investors, who need to make informed decisions.

He said: “Our report provides a detailed look into the global state of automotive sales and how car purchasing behaviours have changed due to the drastic increase of internet and mobile penetration, rising GDP and the emergence of the middle class. The findings of this report are the result of quantitative surveys conducted online with both car buyers and car dealers across Asia, Africa, Middle East and Latin America and in-depth interviews with industry influencers across the world.

“Using historical data from more developed markets, and analysing how those factors impacted the automotive market in those regions, we seek to provide a glimpse into the future of automotive sales and motorization rates in emerging markets.”