Tesla has cancelled plans to set up an EV factory in Thailand, Malaysia or Indonesia and will instead just focus solely on setting up charging stations. This is according to The Nation, which quoted a source from the Thai government.
The decision to scrap ASEAN factory plans follows a layoff of the team of Tesla executives that visited Thailand late last year. “Tesla is currently only discussing charging stations, with the factory plans suspended not just in Thailand but worldwide. They are not proceeding in Malaysia, Indonesia, or anywhere else except for China, America, and Germany,” the source told the English-language publication.
Thai prime minister Srettha Thavisin declared in November 2023 that Tesla was set to make Thailand an EV manufacturing hub, saying so after he held several meetings with Tesla executives, both in Thailand and the US. Srettha also toured Tesla’s Fremont factory went he went to the US for the 30th APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in November (pics below).
Back in Thailand, Srettha and Pheu Thai party leader Paetongtarn Shinawatra, daughter of Thaksin, hosted senior Tesla executive Rohan Patel at the Yi Peng festival in Chiang Mai in the same month. He was then reported as saying that the Elon Musk-led carmaker was surveying three potential factory sites in the kingdom and was expected to announce investments of over US$5 billion (RM22.5 billion) in Q1 2024.
According to the government source, Tesla has decided to cancel such plans and has disbanded that particular executive team. The decision is part of the EV specialist’s withdrawal of investment across Asia and beyond. So, the ASEAN race to lure Tesla’s business for both economic and bragging rights reasons is over, but was Tesla’s plan to build in our region that serious in the first place?
A gigafactory that has been left hanging is Mexico, even though that one – unlike ASEAN – was official. First announced in March 2023, the project has faced delays and uncertainty, among them US presidential candidate Donald Trump’s pledge to impose a 100% tariff on cars made in Mexico, which is seen as a tax-free backdoor. In October 2023, Tesla confirmed it had paused the project due to economic concerns.
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AI-generated Summary ✨
Comments express skepticism about Tesla's plans in Malaysia, with many believing the country was never genuinely considered for a factory due to limited local sales and overreliance on Shanghai production. Several criticize the Malaysian government for allegedly being scammed by Elon Musk, offering undeserved privileges without real benefits, and highlight that Tesla's presence in ASEAN faces stiff competition from Chinese EVs and traditional automakers. There is a sense that the whole plan was a political or economic illusion, with some calling for less dependence on foreign brands and more focus on local alternatives. Overall, the sentiment suggests disappointment and suspicion that Tesla's ASEAN plans were insincere or unattainable from the start.