GSM taxis seen in the central province of Quang Nam. Photo courtesy of GSM
GSM, an all-electric taxi company owned by Vietnam’s richest man Pham Nhat Vuong, plans to open its services in Laos this year.
The company, which uses VinFast electric vehicles only, aims to first ship 150 electric cars to Laos and then increase that 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, give it a place in regional and global markets, and help introduce electric vehicles to users,” wrote the CEO of GSM, Nguyen Van Thanh, on his personal page on social networks.
GSM was established in March by Vingroup Chairman Pham Nhat Vuong, who holds a 95% stake. It offers taxi and motorbike services.
The company has partnered with Be Group to integrate VinFast vehicles into 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 at the end of the second quarter. It had previously signed an agreement with VinFast to purchase 200,000 electric bicycles and 30,000 electric cars.
