The Vinfast Limo Green is an MPV added to the Rentapasada program only last month. Photo for CleanTechnica by Raymond Tribdino.
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Most automakers entering a new market concentrate on selling vehicles. VinFast is taking a different approach in the Philippines, where it is trying to create new business owners first.
The Vietnamese electric vehicle manufacturer has expanded its Rentapasada (literally rent-to-hire) program, an initiative that allows Filipinos to launch a ride-hailing business using an electric vehicle without making the substantial upfront investment normally required to buy one. By combining vehicle access, charging, maintenance, and a dedicated ride-hailing platform, the company is positioning electric vehicles as tools for entrepreneurship rather than simply personal transportation.
To understand how this works, one needs a crash course in taxi and ride hailing in the Philippines. First, unlike Uber, where the vehicles used for the ride hailing service are owned by the drivers themselves, in the Philippines, nearly 82 percent of cars come from a “fleet,” meaning they are owned by another person (oftentimes a more moneyed relative) and driven by a hired person. Rentapasada allows a person to literally pay for the vehicle from the proceeds of the taxi service at a rate of only P1000 (less than $20) a day.
