Tesla sours on Gigafactory plans for Indonesia, Thailand, and yes, Malaysia

It looks like Tesla has decided to halt its plans to establish electric vehicle production facilities in Southeast Asia, quashing hope of a Gigafactory located in Thailand and/or Indonesia, with Malaysia’s ambition for the same seemingly also down the drain.

Instead, the American EV brand is reported to be opting to concentrate solely on setting up a more robust network of charging stations in this region, as published by Thai-based The Nation, citing a source from the Thai government.

According to said source, Tesla has suspended its factory plans not only in Thailand but globally, with the exception of its operations in China, the United States, and Germany where the company already has a manufacturing presence.

This runs counter to the announcement made by Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin in November 2023 that Tesla was all set to make Thailand an EV manufacturing hub following several meetings with Tesla executives, both in Thailand and the United States. During his visit to the US for the 30th APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting, Srettha toured Tesla’s original factory in Fremont, California.

Around that time, it was also reported that Tesla was surveying three potential factory sites in Thailand and was expected to announce investments exceeding US$5 billion (RM22.5 billion) in the first quarter of 2024.

With the apparent cancellation of these plans and the disbandment of the executive team responsible for the ASEAN region, the move does seem consistent with Tesla’s broader withdrawal from investment projects across Asia, at least for the near term, and the race among ASEAN countries to attract Tesla's investment for both economic benefits and prestige has come to an abrupt end.

Apart from Southeast Asia, Tesla’s gigafactory project in Mexico has also faced delays and uncertainty, and ostensibly plans for a gigafactory in India is also halted . Initially announced in March 2023, the Mexican project encountered obstacles, including US presidential candidate Donald Trump’s proposal to impose a 100% tariff on cars made in Mexico should he enter office in 2025.