Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) is expanding into Vietnam, establishing a local subsidiary authorized to import, distribute and sell vehicles as competition intensifies in neighboring China.
Tesla Motors Vietnam was registered in Ho Chi Minh City on Sept. 11 with roughly $3 million in charter capital, Reuters reported Monday. Tesla has not yet said when vehicle sales will begin.
Tesla’s China Market Share Slides
Tesla’s share of China’s battery-electric vehicle market fell to 6.6% in the second quarter from more than 15% in 2020, according to Reuters.
Its China retail sales fell 12.4% year over year in August to 50,047 vehicles, while China’s battery-electric vehicle sales edged 0.8% higher.
Tesla’s Shanghai factory sold 86,166 Model 3 and Model Y vehicles in August, including exports, up 3.6% from a year earlier after a 38% increase in July.
More than half of Shanghai production was exported during the second quarter for the first time. Vietnam could provide another destination for Shanghai-built vehicles, although Tesla has not disclosed where it plans to source cars for the market.
Tesla Walks Into VinFast’s Backyard
Vietnam offers another growth market, but Tesla will face a dominant domestic competitor.
VinFast Auto Ltd. (NASDAQ:VFS) is Vietnam’s homegrown EV champion, founded by billionaire Pham Nhat Vuong’s Vingroup. The company stopped producing gasoline-powered vehicles in 2022 to focus entirely on EVs and has built an extensive charging network across the country.
VinFast delivered 20,161 EVs in Vietnam in August, taking preliminary domestic deliveries to 154,073 through the first eight months of 2026, according to an SEC filing.
Reuters described Vietnam as one of Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing EV markets. Chinese manufacturers including BYD are also expanding across the region.
Prediction Traders Lean Toward Year-Over-Year Decline
Kalshi traders currently put a 55% chance on Tesla topping 490,000 deliveries in the third quarter, but only a 42% chance of exceeding 495,000.
Tesla delivered a record 497,099 vehicles in the third quarter of 2025. With traders assigning less than even odds to deliveries topping 495,000 this quarter, the market is leaning toward a year-over-year decline despite expecting improvement from the second quarter’s 480,126.
Tesla typically reports quarterly deliveries shortly after the quarter ends, putting its global growth trajectory back in focus as the company pushes into another competitive Asian EV market.
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