Rohan Patel, Tesla's senior director of public policy and business development, reportedly said on March 12 that Tesla's top priority right now is Southeast Asian market expansion. Patel pointed out that Tesla faces competition from Chinese firm BYD in the fast-growing market of Southeast Asia.
In recent years, Southeast Asia has become one of the hottest electric vehicle markets, and the region could provide Tesla with a large customer base when U.S. demand is slowing. Responding to a post about the Model Y's first delivery in Malaysia, Rohan Patel, Tesla's senior director of public policy and business development, said on social media, "There's no doubt that Southeast Asia will be a major growth region for battery storage and EV popularity in the coming years."
After combing through the news events, we see that Tesla's layout in Southeast Asia can be described as "multi-point blossoming".
In 2023, the Malaysian government 2023 issued a license to Tesla to sell cars in the country and supported Tesla in building a network of charging piles there.
In Thailand, a Thai government official said earlier this month, Tesla at the end of 2023 on a site after the investigation, to discuss the proposed construction of a potential automobile manufacturing production plant base. And, Thailand is also Southeast Asia's largest auto producer and exporter.
And the volume of BYD's business in Southeast Asia is quite impressive. BYD accounts for more than a quarter of electric vehicle sales in the region. Reviewing BYD's strategy in the Southeast Asian market, we find that BYD's development in Southeast Asia is not unlike Tesla's direct-to-consumer approach.
BYD has expanded its business by partnering with large local conglomerates. Unlike Tesla's "go it alone" approach, BYD has achieved rapid market expansion by sharing profits with its partners.
In Malaysia and Singapore, Sime Darby has become BYD's distributor; in Indonesia, it is Bakrie & Brothers; in the Philippines, it is Bakrie & Brothers; and in Thailand, it is distributed by Rever Automotive.
As far as the Indonesian market is concerned, BYD has a very successful business bus business besides cars. In Indonesia, BYD relies heavily on VKTR, a subsidiary of the Bakrie & Brothers group, which has negotiated with the government to sell 52 electric buses to Jakarta.
Alex Kim, VKTR's chief strategy officer, said, "It's never easy for an outside company to carve out a market on its own." In addition to negotiating with the government, VKTR is also peddling electric buses to local businesses.
In Singapore, BYD has opened five themed restaurants called "BYD by 1826", where the dishes are named after BYD's electric car models and the rest of the space is a car showroom. The main purpose of the restaurants is to attract consumers who are interested in BYD.