Vietnam’s taxi market leader GSM faces challenges to drive VinFast’s EV sales

[HO CHI MINH CITY] Vietnam’s top electric vehicle (EV) maker VinFast has relied on its largest buyer Green and Smart Mobility (GSM) to drive sales growth, but with the domestic fleet electrification market becoming saturated and international competition heating up, GSM may no longer be the key growth engine for VinFast in the future.

GSM, founded by VinFast chief executive Pham Nhat Vuong, and operator of the electric taxi brand Xanh SM, has scaled up its fleet exponentially to gain dominance in Vietnam’s ride-hailing sector and enter new countries in South-east Asia in the past two years.

However, its contribution to VinFast’s sales has dwindled, as the carmaker has managed to diversify its customer base lately. VinFast’s EV deliveries to related parties, mainly GSM, fell from around 72 per cent in 2023 to just 38 per cent in the first nine months of 2024, the carmaker’s earnings reports stated.