It seems Toyota is unimpressed by all of the hoopla generated by the dual unveiling of the Tesla Semi and second-generation Tesla Roadster last week. In an interview with German business magazine Der Spiegel, the Japanese automaker's chairman said he does not view Tesla as a role model.

"Tesla is not our enemy and not our role model," Toyota's Takeshi Uchiyamada said in the interview, as translated by Reuters. "I think it's the German manufacturers that rather see Tesla as a competitor."

The rise of Tesla does seem to have generated more alarm at Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Porsche than at Toyota, which has maintained that its hybrids are a more practical alternative to all-electric cars. Japan's largest automaker may have been able to shrug off Tesla when the Silicon Valley automaker was selling small numbers of luxury cars, but the arrival of the Model 3 means Toyota may have to take Tesla more seriously.