[HO CHI MINH CITY] An electric vehicle (EV) rental and taxi company launched in March this year by Vietnam’s richest man is expanding its e-taxi business to other parts of South-east Asia, with Laos and Cambodia first on the list.

Nguyen Van Thanh, the chief executive officer of Green and Smart Mobility (GSM), told The Business Times that the aim is to get the e-taxis on the roads of those two countries by the end of the year.

GSM was the largest purchaser of VinFast cars in the last two quarters. VinFast is the automobile arm of conglomerate Vingroup. The group’s chairman Pham Nhat Vuong, who founded VinFast, owns 95 per cent of GSM.