Tesla is “officially coming to Vietnam,” a Tesla recruiter said on Wednesday, as the US automaker began hiring a local management team in a market dominated by homegrown rival VinFast.
“Tesla is officially coming to Vietnam – and we’re hiring,” Ricky Ip, who recruits for Tesla in the Asia-Pacific region, wrote on X.
He listed five full-time openings: Sales Manager, Service Manager, HR Business Partner, Purchasing Manager and Project Developer for Charging.
The hiring follows the registration of Tesla Motors Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City on September 11. Tesla has not announced a launch date, models or prices for Vietnam, and the company itself has made no formal announcement on its plans there.
The job ads
The Sales Manager will report to a Country Manager and lead teams “across field retail and delivery locations,” according to the listing. The role covers sales results, delivery execution and fluency in “the local market’s Sales and Registration requirements and processes.”
Tesla has not announced a Country Manager for Vietnam, and no such opening appears among the five listings.
The Service Manager will run day-to-day service operations and build the team, the listing says. It asks for leadership experience in a service-focused industry and fluency in English, but says “automotive expertise is not a must.”
The charging role signals that Tesla plans its own infrastructure. The Project Developer will find sites “to host Tesla charging products,” negotiate contracts with site hosts and lead approvals from utilities and permitting authorities, according to the ad.
The Purchasing Manager role sits within Tesla’s Asia-Pacific Indirect Purchasing team, and the HR Business Partner will also handle office and facilities management, the listings show.
A $3 million local entity
Tesla Motors Vietnam Limited Liability Company was registered with charter capital of 77.667 billion dong (about $3 million). Its office is at Me Linh Point Tower on Ngo Duc Ke Street, in the city’s Saigon Ward. Its licensed activities include importing, distributing, wholesaling and retailing cars and parts.
David Jon Feinstein, Tesla’s Senior Director for Global Trade and New Markets, is registered as Chairman. He has held similar roles in Tesla entities in India, Thailand and Malaysia, according to Vietnamese media reports.
Isabel Ching Fan, who oversees Tesla in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Macau, is General Director. She spent 19 years at Apple before joining Tesla, according to the same reports. Nguyen Manh Hung is listed as Assistant to the General Director.
Some Tesla models already circulate in Vietnam through private importers, which leaves owners without official warranty, repair or parts support, Thanh Nien reported.
VinFast’s grip
Tesla would face an entrenched home-market leader.
VinFast delivered 177,697 vehicles in Vietnam in the first nine months of 2026, all of them electric, including 23,624 in September, the company said.
That gave it about 36% of the country’s total car sales of 495,138 units in the period, according to TNGlobal, which combined VinFast’s figures with data from the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers’ Association and Hyundai’s local partner.
The Vingroup unit has been Vietnam’s top-selling car brand for 25 consecutive months. It sold 175,099 vehicles at home in all of 2025, so it has already passed last year’s total.
VinFast holds 92% of Vietnam’s EV market, according to HSC research cited by CNBC. EVs accounted for almost 40% of new car sales in Vietnam in 2025, making it Southeast Asia’s largest electric car market, the International Energy Agency said.
Its charging network, V-Green, has more than 150,000 ports, which serve only VinFast vehicles. Early Tesla owners may need to rely on home charging or open networks such as EV One and Charge+, which offer CCS2 connectors in some provinces, Tuoi Tre reported.
“It would be difficult for Tesla to compete with VinFast in Vietnam because VinFast has advantages that go well beyond product availability,” Koketso Tsoai, Senior Automobiles Analyst at Fitch Solutions’ BMI, told CNBC.
Analysts interviewed by CNBC expect Tesla to start with the Model 3 and Model Y and to target premium buyers rather than the mass market. VinFast’s growth this year has been led by the VF 3 mini-car and the fleet-oriented Limo Green MPV.
Tax breaks to 2030
Vietnam’s incentives for battery EVs now run to the end of the decade.
The National Assembly voted on April 24 to keep the special consumption tax on electric cars with fewer than nine seats at 3% until the end of 2030, rising to 11% from 2031, VnExpress reported. The 3% rate had been due to rise on March 1, 2027.
A government decree issued in June also extended the full exemption from first-time registration fees for battery EVs to the end of 2030, according to VTV.
Southeast Asia playbook
Vietnam would add to Tesla’s network in the region. Tesla launched in Thailand in December 2022, Malaysia in July 2023 and the Philippines in November 2024.
Its most recent large new market has been tougher. Tesla sold fewer than 50 cars in India in April even as it opened a fourth showroom, and it has dropped plans for a factory there, according to a report.
Vietnam’s charging landscape has also posed challenges for BYD there, Supparoek Sawangwong, ASEAN Analyst at Mobility Global, told CNBC.
