Do you trust Toyota more than Tesla or BYD? Toyota says bZ4X electric car "will hit the ground running" because Australians trust it more than the rest

A war of words is heating up over Australia's booming EV space, with Toyota saying electric car shoppers will be more likely to choose a bZ4X over models from Tesla, BYD or other, newer brands because of the Japanese giant's 50-year presence in Australia.

Asked why Toyota thought the bZ4X would "hit the ground running" as opposed to models like the Tesla Model Y or BYD Seal, the brand's VP of Sales and Marketing, Sean Hanley, compared Toyotas to fine wine – in that they improve with age.

Its competitors, it said, hadn't been in the market long enough to say the same.

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"Well, I think it doesn't hurt to have been around 50 years and in a fairly strong market position. But what it really is around is trust," Hanley said.

"But it's also around our quality, durability, and reliability. Now I know that we are not perfect, we know that, but when we do get it wrong, we fix it. So despite some of the issues that we've had in recent years, we still have good trust with our customers. In fact, all our metrics say we're the most trusted automotive brand in Australia."

BYD Seal pictured here.

Asked if that's what would draw people to Toyota over rival electric vehicles from brands like Tesla, he stopped short of criticising its rivals, but did point to heritage being its big brand advantage.

"It's trust built over 50 years. It takes time. Look, I don't want to criticise other brands because I don't engage with them. All I know is that there are over 50 brands represented in the market of 1.1 million cars, and we're all fighting for a piece of the action and it's bloody competitive. You can't sit here and believe your own PR all day. Right? You've just got to earn it, and it takes a long time," Hanley says.

Tesla Model 3 pictured here

"And we talk about battery-electric vehicles. I mean in our market they're still – even though some brands have been out there for a lot longer – they're still relatively young in our market.

"I mean we are dealing with Toyotas right now on the road for 10 and 20 years or longer sometimes. I kind of know what my bottle of wine is going to look like with a Toyota badge on it in 20 years, you know what I mean?"