Tesla, Inc. (TSLA.US) Establishes Subsidiary in Vietnam to Enter Southeast Asia's Fastest-Growing Electric Vehicle Market

A recently published corporate registration document shows that U.S. electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla, Inc. (TSLA.US) has established a subsidiary in Vietnam, marking its official entry into one of Southeast Asia's fastest-growing electric vehicle markets. The document shows that the new entity, named Tesla, Inc. Automotive Vietnam Co., Ltd., is registered in Ho Chi Minh City with registered capital of 77.667 billion Vietnamese dong (approximately US$3 million). The new company was established on September 11 and has been approved to engage in the wholesale and retail of automobiles, vehicle parts, and mechanical equipment, as well as related import, export, and distribution activities. The registration document lists three legal representatives: American national David Jon Feinstein as chairman, American national Isabel Ching Fan as general manager, and Vietnamese national Nguyen Manh Hung as deputy general manager. It is understood that the electrification of automotive markets in multiple Southeast Asian countries is accelerating. Among them, according to a previously released automotive market report by PwC, Vietnam's automotive market sales in 2025 grew 20.3% year-on-year, ranking first among the six ASEAN countries (Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Singapore). The report points out that the core DRIVE behind Vietnam's automotive sales growth comes from its domestic electric vehicle manufacturer VinFast (VFS.US). In 2025, VinFast contributed approximately 88,000 units of incremental growth to Vietnam's automotive market, entering the top five in the brand sales rankings among the six ASEAN countries. Unlike Thailand and Indonesia, which rely on the model of traditional Japanese internal combustion engine automakers, Vietnam's growth is driven by domestic electric vehicle companies, charging infrastructure, and related ecosystems. PwC believes that although Vietnam has not yet replaced Thailand and Indonesia's position in the ASEAN automotive supply chain (the two countries' automotive production and export scale remains far larger than Vietnam's), it has become an important "new variable" in the ASEAN automotive market, especially during the electric vehicle transition phase.