The future of the auto industry according to audience engagement

The auto industry was hit hard in 2020 as the early months of Covid-19 saw general car use come to a halt, accompanied by supply chain disruptions and plummeting sales. Despite those challenges, industry experts believe the pandemic has accelerated the progression of technology in the automotive sector. 

We’ve watched as electric vehicles have become more prominent for all automakers this year, but beyond mere technological advancement is the push for automakers to invest in sustainable initiatives, largely driven by consumer behavior. 

There is extensive media coverage of these trends, and the public continues to be fascinated by how the industry is changing. We looked at what has been written about cars, with a focus on electric vehicles and sustainability, to see the stories that have drawn the most attention since September.

The biggest articles about cars and the auto industry

The top ten articles about cars offer a look into various interests. From environmentally conscious vehicles, to new sports cars and the latest Tesla news, there was high engagement all around.

Robb Report took the top spot, writing about Dutch students who built the world’s first solar-powered camper van. The article earned over 107k engagements, and shows that adults may prefer vehicles with an environmentally friendly design. On the subject of building cars, a Nigerian man single handedly made a sports car after four years of saving his money to fund the production. The article from Legit, a Nigerian publication, received over 83k engagements. 

Automakers like Chevrolet and Toyota made the top ten headlines with announcements of their new vehicles. Chevrolet debuted a 2023 Corvette, and Toyota presented a new colorfully designed Tacoma camper. Together the articles totaled over 190k engagements. 

Unsurprisingly given the brand’s status, three out of the top ten articles were about Tesla. Reuter’s revealed Tesla’s plan to spend $1 billion on its new vehicle factory in Austin, and wrote about the company opening its charging network to other electric cars. However, the biggest Tesla article was about hundreds of people being locked out of their cars due to the app crashing. BBC’s article received 62k engagements to the issue.

The biggest articles about electric vehicles focus on Tesla

When looking specifically at electric vehicles, there are more articles written about Tesla than any other carmaker, and they are sparking a lot of interest from the public.

There is massive media coverage of electric vehicles in general, but the biggest spike on October 8th was due to Tesla announcing that it will be moving its headquarters from California to Texas. There were multiple articles with tens of thousands engagements, but Breitbart’s received the most, with more than 35k engagements.

Although the media loves a Tesla story, the most engaged content looks a little different on Facebook. On November 17th President Biden posted a photo of himself driving General Motors’ new electric Hummer. In the post he states that the “future is electric,” and he received nearly 300k engagements. C-SPAN also posted about the President driving an electric Hummer, which saw 100k engagements and was one of the biggest Facebook posts about electric vehicles. 

The biggest articles about sustainability initiatives

The top articles about sustainability emphasize the increasing energy needs around the world and highlight the global initiative of transitioning to electric vehicles. Bloomberg’s article about China claimed the top spot and discussed the need to lower energy consumption as power shortages ripple through the country. This was the only article to receive more than 50k engagements. 

Electric vehicles are mentioned in several of the top 10 articles, with more and more automakers entering the game. Reuters wrote about carmakers such as Ford, Volvo, and General Motors who committed to end fossil fuel vehicles by 2040, and NPR’s article revealed that 9 in 10 cars sold in Norway are electric or hybrid, mostly different Tesla models. Together the articles earned over 38k engagements. 

Building the future of the auto industry has been a major focal point in 2021, and as vehicles continue to evolve and companies pursue positive environmental changes, the media and public will stay tuned in. We’ll look to see how these changes progress into 2022.

If you would like to learn about other trends surrounding sustainability in 2021, you can read our report here.