Tesla and BYD rose world-dominating heights This is thanks in part to China, the world’s largest electric vehicle market. But with that Pace of Chinese growth With the market slowing, the two electric giants are now looking abroad for further growth opportunities. Tesla, who triggered first a fierce price war who worked in China last year, now sees his next opportunity in the nearby Southeast Asia region.
Southeast Asia “will be a key growth spot for battery storage in electric vehicle adoption in the coming years,” wrote Rohan Patel, a senior manager of public policy and business development an X contribution on Tuesday.
The Tesla manager responded to a user’s post recalling the first deliveries of the Tesla Model Y in the Southeast Asian country of Malaysia.
Malaysia granted Tesla one License for sale last year in the country. The US-based electric vehicle maker also set up a headquarters, service center and experience center in Malaysia’s Selangor state and promised to invest in a network of fast-charging stations across the country.
Tesla is too in talks reached an agreement with Thailand, the region’s largest automobile producer and exporter, to build a production facility in the country.
Indonesia is also asking Tesla to set up a base in the country, which has huge deposits of nickel, a component used in some electric vehicle batteries. Indonesian President Joko Widodo even paid a personal visit to Tesla CEO Elon Musk at the SpaceX launch site in Texas in 2022.
Still, Tesla could be racing against time to establish itself as the dominant EV player in Southeast Asia. Chinese electric giant BYD, which overtook Tesla in battery electric vehicle sales late last year, is also trying to capture the small but fast-growing market.
It said BYD sold 26% of all electric vehicles in Southeast Asia, compared to 8% for Tesla in the second quarter of last year Reuters citing counterpoint research. The Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer was the best-selling EV brand in Thailand, Malaysia And Singapore last year.
BYD is also expanding its production in Southeast Asia. The EV manufacturer laid the foundation stone last March in its first Thai car factory. The plant, which BYD says is expected to begin operations later this year, will have an annual capacity of 150,000 vehicles destined for both domestic and export markets.
BYD is also investing $1.3 billion in building a factory in Indonesia a senior Indonesian government official at a BYD launch event in early January.