Tesla Officially Announces Entry into Vietnam: What Will It Compete with VinFast for Vietnam's Middle Class?

Owl Auto (ID: owlauto) reports that, recently, according to media reports, Ricky Ip, Head of Tesla Asia-Pacific Recruitment, posted on the X platform confirming that Tesla has officially entered the Vietnamese market and simultaneously launched local recruitment. This statement comes just over a month after Tesla quietly completed entity registration in Ho Chi Minh City, meaning the previous speculation on "whether to enter Vietnam" has officially been settled.

According to Owl Auto, Tesla registered "Tesla Motors Vietnam" in Ho Chi Minh City on September 11, 2026, with a registered capital of about 77.7 billion Vietnamese Dong (about $3 million). The business scope covers car import, wholesale, and retail. The positions opened this time include five categories: Sales Manager, Service Manager, HR Business Partner, Procurement Manager, and Charging Project Developer.

Among these, the "Charging Project Developer" position is particularly key—Tesla follows a rhythm of "recruit charging staff first, then launch sales" in Thailand and the Philippines, and the Vietnamese market is likely to replicate the same path to pave the way for Supercharger network localization.

However, Tesla is entering a market firmly controlled by VinFast. In the first nine months of 2026, VinFast delivered a cumulative 177,697 cars in Vietnam, accounting for 36% of the national total new car sales of about 495,000 vehicles. This far exceeds Toyota's 53,978 units and surpasses the combined total of Toyota, Hyundai, Mitsubishi, Ford, and Kia, which stood at 175,136 units.

VinFast has ranked as the best-selling car brand in Vietnam for 25 consecutive months. Its micro electric vehicle model VF 3 secured the first place in cumulative sales for the year with a starting price below $13,000. In terms of charging infrastructure, VinFast affiliate company V-Green operates about 98% of charging ports in Vietnam and plans to add $380 million to build 99 ultra-fast charging stations, forming an infrastructure barrier that Tesla will find difficult to bypass in the short term.

Tesla's challenges go beyond the rival's head start advantage. Vietnam levies tariffs on imported complete vehicles ranging from 47% to 70% depending on the country of origin. In the initial stage, Tesla can almost only enter by exporting complete vehicles from its Shanghai Gigafactory. The tax burden that VinFast does not need to bear is already embedded in the pricing of every vehicle. Fortunately, Vietnam has extended the exemption policy for the first-time registration fee for pure electric vehicles to the end of 2030, and it applies to imported electric vehicles, leaving a certain policy window for Tesla.

Tesla has not yet announced the models, pricing, and store locations in Vietnam; initially, it is more likely to test the waters in the form of imported cars.