Vietnamese billionaire’s taxi firm to expand to Laos

By Minh Son October 14, 2023 | 05:08 pm PT

GSM taxis seen in central Quang Nam Province. Photo courtesy of GSM

GSM, an exclusively all-electric taxi company owned by Vietnam’s richest man Pham Nhat Vuong, plans to open services in Laos this year.

The company, which uses only VinFast electric vehicles, aims to ship 150 electric cars to Laos first, and then increase the number to 1,000 by the end of the year. The cars will be the VF 5 Plus and VF e34 models.

It will eventually sell and lease VinFast electric cars, similar to its services in Vietnam.

"This is the first step in GSM’s plan to go overseas, giving it a place in the regional and global markets, is to help introduce electric vehicles to users," GSM CEO Nguyen Van Thanh wrote on his personal social media page.

GSM was established in March by Vingroup chairman Pham Nhat Vuong, who owns a 95% stake. It offers taxi and motorbike ride-hailing services.

The company has partnered with ride-hailing Be Group to incorporate VinFast vehicles in the taxi service.

GSM is the largest buyer of VinFast cars, according to a report VinFast sent to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in the second quarter.

GSM had received 7,100 electric cars from VinFast by the end of the second quarter. It had earlier signed a deal with VinFast to buy 200,000 electric bikes and 30,000 electric cars.