資訊服務Business News

The dwindling sales of motorbikes, the expanding middle class and the development of major infrastructure projects are set to increase car usage, he added.

Vietnam’s car rental market is set to reach $550 million this year and will grow by 10.9 percent annually in the next five years, according to data portal Statista. By 2026, it will reach $840 million with 8.7 million users.

Kiet said: "This is the right time to enter the market. There is a lot of support for our entrance."

The number of trips has been doubling every month in the last four months, he said.

"Those figures exceed our initial targets."

Traditionally, customers have to make a deposit of VND15-20 million, submit their household registration book, a vital identification document in Vietnam. Customers and hire a car for at least one day.

On Zoomcar, users are not required to put down any deposit or documents, and can rent for six hours.

But the commission of 40 percent of rental it charges discourages some car owners, who complain it is too high.

Kiet defended it by saying it is an appropriate ratio to ensure the company has enough resources to develop the market and bear the risks of operation so that car owners only need to list their vehicles and not worry about customers’ trustworthiness.

He also spoke about the low number of vehicles, saying only 50 percent of registered owners make them available at a time, at a time when the number of renters is increasing.

The low rate of people with driver’s licenses (estimated to be 3 percent of the HCMC population) is also a challenge, he said.

The company believes however that car rental would become a future trend in Vietnam as has happened in Singapore and the U.S., he said

The company hopes to expand to Hanoi this quarter, he added.

Source: https://e.vnexpress.net/news/companies/indian-startup-zoomcar-bets-on-vietnam-as-key-southeast-asian-market-4461102.html