Toyota beats Tesla as America's electric car brand despite selling a single model in the US

Toyota can take the brand awareness and customer goodwill built over decades of producing quality gas-powered cars or hybrids, and successfully run with those into the electric vehicle era, it seems.

Last year, a survey of 6,000 new car buyers in the US returned preference of the affluent boomer generation for more traditional brands like Toyota, Honda, or Ford when it comes to an EV purchase. At the time, electric cars commanded a US$10,000 premium over the price of the average gas-powered vehicle sold in the US.

A 2023 version of the survey now returns a definite brand perception advantage of Toyota over Tesla when it comes to electric vehicle purchase, despite that Toyota only sells one battery-powered model in the US, not counting the Lexus RZ 450e SUV. Still, the EV brand preference breakdown among prospective EV buyers in America is as follows: 

1. Toyota - 30%
2. Tesla - 23%
3. Honda - 20%
4. GM - 15%
5. Ford - 14%

The survey, done in the September 29 - October 1 period, also revealed much confusion about EV facts and trends, though. Respondents collated fully electric with plug-in hybrid vehicles as that's how the survey questions were shaped. They also still cited EV costs as one of the main purchase roadblocks, even though Tesla's 2023 price war caused a parity effect with gas-powered car tags.

EV range and charging infrastructure availability are still the high points of concern, though, and Toyota now has a unique advantage to position itself well in the next installment of the EV craze. It recently announced the adoption of Tesla's widely available NACS charging system that will allow it to piggyback on the vast network of Superchargers across North America.

Moreover, it is working to commercialize a solid-state battery breakthrough that may double the current average EV range and allow for ultrafast charging as well. Toyota is also working on novel production methods for its dedicated next-gen EV platform that may beat Tesla's gigacasting in terms of speed and efficiency.

Needless to say, Tesla won't sit still in the meantime, but Toyota seemingly has every chance to enter the next leg of the EV race with vehicles that are not only highly competitive, but also highly desired by the American public. 

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