Toyota

Reducing cost per configuration with TikTok’s Automotive Ads

Toyota Germany (@toyota_de) is not only part of one of the world's best-known car manufacturers, but also one of the pioneers in successful lead generation on TikTok. Now, the goal was to optimize performance further - reducing the cost per action (CPA) for vehicle configurations and making lead generation even more efficient.

Goal

In the highly competitive automotive market, finding cost-effective ways to generate high-quality leads is essential - whether for test drives, vehicle configurations, or actual car sales.

To meet this challenge, Toyota Germany partnered with TikTok and its integrated media and creative agency T&Pm and become the first automotive advertiser in Europe to test TikTok’s new Automotive Ads. The goal: drive down CPA for vehicle configurations and expanding their customer reach.

Strategy

Toyota Germany executed two parallel campaigns to evaluate the impact of TikTok’s new ad category.

• Automotive Ads: Toyota leveraged In-Feed Ads to integrate seamlessly into TikTok users’ For You Feed, complemented by Carousel Ads sourced directly from their product catalogue.

• Always-on conversion campaigns: Running alongside, Toyota Germany continued its regular conversion campaigns optimising towards completed car configurators as a comparative measure.

Each campaign featured a streamlined catalogue of three car models, with T&Pm producing one native creative per model allowing for a fair and data-informed evaluation.

Automotive Ads are part of TikTok’s Lead Generation solution - a flexible, performance-driven ad format designed to engage TikTok’s highly active audience and convert interest into action. With a clear Call-to-Action (CTA), users were seamlessly guided to the model’s landing page, to complete a car configuration.

Results

Backed by precise performance tracking via TikTok Pixel, Toyota observed remarkable cost efficiency advancements:

• A 38% reduction in CPA compared to their standard lead gen approach (click-through attribution).

• The Corolla model in particular saw a significant 65% decrease in CPA, while the C-HR and Aygo X models achieved savings of 31% and 50% respectively.

By integrating automotive-specific ad formats with a highly engaged audience, Toyota successfully enhanced its lead generation strategy - proving that TikTok Automotive Ads drive real results.