For retailers, dealers, and manufacturers / Categories / Vehicles · Live
The category where the hours are actually measured.
Vehicles is the one high-consideration category with a long, consistent public instrument for how long buyers spend deciding. That is why the argument starts here: the evidence does not have to be inferred.
What the evidence base looks like
Total time spent shopping for a vehicle was 13:13 in 2020 and 13:59 in 2025 - effectively flat straight through the AI wave, with roughly seven hours of it happening online.
Cox Automotive Car Buyer Journey Study, 2025.
What AI changed, and what it did not
Satisfaction runs at 81% among buyers who used AI in their search against 65% among those who did not. That is a self-selected comparison, not the same buyer measured twice, so read it as a signal about who reaches for AI rather than as proof of what AI does.
Cox Automotive, 2025.
Where the decision gets stuck locally
In New Zealand, 74% of new-car buyers rule out an EV on battery lifespan and resale value, and 48% contact only one dealership. It is a national average you cannot cut by model, region or dealer - which is exactly the gap first-party decision data closes.
Trade Me Motors, Aug 2026, n=1,949.
What is live
The full parameter set, the trade-offs buyers get stuck on, and the ranking interface on the independent surface. A dealer or distributor pilot runs the same engine on your own range, under your own brand.
See it built for your brand.
We build a free buyer decision prototype for your brand, in vehicles, using your range. Then thirty minutes to walk through it against your own analytics. NZ and Australia.
The other categories