Tesla eyes Asian mkts with upcoming low-cost model

Co has been cutting prices across its models to attract customers amid high inflation

- Alisha Sachdev

Tesla, the American automotive company led by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, is eyeing new opportunities in Asia with its cutting-edge ‘new-gen platform’, which seeks to introduce more budget-friendly compact and sub-compact electric vehicles (EV) that have the potential to drive large volumes across developing Southeast Asian markets.

According to Tesla’s Q2 investor deck, it is working on developing its next-generation EV platform across multiple locations. Industry insiders said the new product, which is projected to be priced around $25,000, may debut by 2023-end, although some analysts expect a 2025 launch.

Currently, Tesla’s Shanghai gigafactory, the main export hub and its largest manufacturing facility, ships to Thailand and Singapore and will soon start exporting to Malaysia.

Nonetheless, Tesla faces formidable competition in these territories from China’s BYD, which has a dominant position in the emerging EV market in Malaysia and has outperformed Japanese EV makers in this region.