Vietnam’s VinGroup Plans Taxi Service in India, Driver-Salesman Model To Sell Cars

Vietnamese EV maker VinFast will soon have a sister company joining it in India. Green and Smart Mobility (GSM), a commercial passenger vehicle fleet operator owned by VinGroup, plans to launch its India operations in February next year. India is set to be the fifth market for GSM. Currently, it operates in its home market Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, and Laos.

Along with the fleet service, VinGroup plans to introduce its driver-salesman model in India, with an objective to help scale up its EV business here. Under this programme, drivers are trained to be sales representatives for VinFast cars, and they are incentivised for every customer taken to a dealership. “In Jakarta we have 10,000 cars. We train 10,000 drivers to become 10,000 salesmen. So the moment they start driving the car, they start talking about the car,” explains Pham Sanh Chau, CEO, VinFast Asia.

GSM has both cars and two-wheelers in its fleet. While having a fleet service provider as a captive customer helps in scaling up sales volume, it can also be a double-edged sword especially in the car business. Vinfast positions itself as a premium EV brand in the passenger vehicle market, and having the same models run as taxis may be detrimental to the model brands.

The planned addition of the Limo Green model brand to VinFast’s portfolio is mainly to address this challenge. The seven-seater Limo Green, which has two variants, will be launched in India by February 2026. Unlike current mobility service providers Uber, Ola and Rapido, GSM owns its vehicle fleet. It operates an app-based service, as well as regular ride-hailing cabs.

It’s not only the Indian passenger vehicle market for personal usage that presents good opportunities for new players. The country’s taxi market and its growth prospects also offer a big opportunity for service providers and OEMs. The Indian taxi market was pegged at an estimated $20.6 billion in 2024, and could reach $53 billion, according to market research and advisory firm Renub Research.

As much as a commercial registration plate could potentially affect a model’s brand image, a significant presence in the taxi segment may also positively impact a model’s reputation in terms of practical parameters such as space and durability. “Normally in the taxi segment, they buy a highly durable car,” says Chau.

In India, there are examples of seven-seater models such as the Maruti Ertiga and Toyota Innova, which are successful both in the personal and commercial usage segments. VinFast’s Limo Green could benchmark them to have a similar story in India, while its drivers in the GSM fleet also get to earn some extra money, and in the process also help the Vietnamese OEM gain some extra sales.