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VinFast showed up in the U.S. with a fleet of cars that were fundamentally not ready for prime time. Years later, the company's products still aren't great for their few customers, but VinFast is utterly determined to keep beating its head against the American wall in any way it can. Now, the company has figured out a new way to pretend to exist here: Get its associated taxi business going.
VinFast brought Green SM, its associated taxi service from Vietnam, out to Los Angeles to compete with Uber, Lyft, and the rest as of October 16. Unlike those, though, Green SM is a traditional taxi service rather than a rideshare app — its teal electric VF8s are owned by the company and driven by trained full-time employees, according to the Los Angeles Times. The company claims this is a way to elevate "service quality," though that plan sounds at odds with Green SM's global commitment to only using VinFast vehicles. Surely we've all taken a Tesla rideshare at some point and thought the ride quality was just too dang nice, haven't we?
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Of course, Green SM isn't using Vinfast cars for their quality. The two companies are both subsidiaries of sprawling Vietnamese conglomerate Vingroup (Green SM is one of precious few members of the group not to begin with "Vin"). The service has been using VinFast cars abroad for years, but this 500-car LA fleet will be a true test of whether riders in the States can get on board with VinFast quality in their rides.
Given that Green SM doesn't exist in Uber and Lyft's dominant apps (cars can be called with Green SM's own app, via a phone call, or hailed from the sidewalk), it operates a mere 500 cars, and it can't yet service LAX, there are a lot of signs the company may not do as well here as it has elsewhere in the world. Green SM's United States CEO Hoang Thanh Hang, though, has a hope: To "[bring] back the dignity of driving as a true profession." Perhaps, in a world full of underpaid and overworked rideshare drivers cutting corners to make ends meet, Green SM can truly stand out by providing a better service. Amazing the difference that paying your workers can make.