1. Maruti Suzuki Alto K10

Car companies ready to splurge on digital media are reaping rich dividends.

That could be why the second most Google-searched car model among new entrants is Ford Figo, far ahead of Volkswagen Polo, Nissan Micra, Toyota Etios, Maruti SX4 and Hyundai i10-Next Gen to name a few.

Internet search giant Google tabulated the searches by consumers in India from January 2010 to May 2011.

The number one slot went to Maruti's Alto K10.

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2. Ford Figo

The second most searched car company is Honda Siel Cars, though it sells much fewer cars than Hyundai, Tata Motors and even General Motors.

The number one slot predictably goes to the country's largest car company, Maruti Suzuki. In this pecking order, Ford India stands at number seven.

There were around 100 million active internet users in the country in 2010.

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3. Hyundai i10 Next Gen

Ford India's executive director, marketing sales, and service, Nigel Wark says: "When we launched Figo, we allocated seven per cent of our total advertising budget on digital marketing.

This is two to three times what our competitors were spending.

That is paying dividends. So, now we have launched the Global Fiesta only on the digital platform."

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4. Maruti Suzuki Kizashi

Honda also says tapping the digital media is the key to selling.

"Our brand surveys have shown us Honda cars are the most aspirational in their respective segments.

The brand recall is high. Our customers are all internet-savvy and research online before making purchase decisions.

Even in our own communications, digital marketing forms an integral part. We are allocating an increasing proportion of our ad spends on online media to reach out to our target clientele," says vice-president (marketing & sales) Jnaneswar Sen.

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5. Chevrolet Beat

Maruti started putting money in digital media long ago.

Says Shashank Srivastav, chief general manager (marketing), MSIL: "Alto is the best-selling car and the volumes sold offline have been reflected in the consumer interest in the car online."

Alto sold 346,800 units last year to become the largest selling small car globally.

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6. Nissan Micra

As many as 25 new cars and fresh variants were introduced in the country by automobile manufacturers between January 2010 and May 2011.

Google's data show queries about entry-level and mid-segment cars continue to be the top-most in consumer searches.

Enquiries in the segment increased 51 per cent in the period under review.

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7. Hyundai Verna Fluidic

Indian consumers also showed a growing preference for luxury cars and sports utility vehicles (SUVs), which recorded growth of 141 per cent and 61 per cent in search queries, respectively.

Queries about diesel cars jumped 114 per cent last year.

These saw an increase of 52 per cent in the period between April and May 2011, when petrol prices went up Rs 5 a litre.

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8. Volkswagen Polo

Overall for Google, automobiles emerged as one of the fastest growing categories - second only to telecom (mobile phones) - with searches in the subject increasing 84 per cent in 2010 from the previous year.

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9. Toyota Etios

Rajan Anandan, vice-president and managing director, Google India, said, "Our research shows in India 65 per cent consumers with Internet access search online before buying cars.

This is ahead of consumers in mature markets like the US and Europe, where 62 per cent users search online before buying."

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10. Maruti Suzuki SX4 Diesel

"We have seen 150 per cent growth in revenues from the auto sector in 2010 and we expect the share of auto ad spends on digital media to grow significantly in the next few years," he said.

The user habit in not limited to cars alone; searches registered for motorcycles increased 96 per cent in 2010, with the highest interest in bikes in the 125-150 cc segment.