Tesla opened a pop-up showroom in a shopping mall in Thailand this week as the company pushes growth plans in Southeast Asia.

The electric vehicle manufacturer displayed the Model 3 and Model Y at the Siam Paragon building in Bangkok. The cars were seen in black, pearl white, metallic dark blue and multi-coated red.

Nasdaq-listed Tesla, which is run by eccentric billionaire and Twitter boss Elon Musk, launched in Thailand earlier this month. It is the firm's first 'foray into the regional hubs' which have been dominated by Japanese brands such as Toyota and Nissan.

Tesla, which is selling its cars online in Thailand, is also facing competition in the region from Chinese carmakers BYD and Great Wall Motors amid a wider push for a shift to EVs across Asia.

The Tesla EVs have prices ranging between 1.7 million baht to 2.5 million baht ($48,447 to $71,205).

Elon Musk's last venture in Thailand went disastrously when he designed a submarine pod to save schoolboys stranded in a cave in Chiang Rai province in 2018.

British cave hero Vern Unsworth - one of the divers who actually rescued the boys - told Musk to 'stick it where the sun doesn't shine' before Musk branded him a 'pedo guy' and 'child rapist. A defamation case followed in Los Angeles which Musk won.