- The Vietnamese manufacturer claims it has paid rent for its premises at a Palo Alto shopping center
- VinFast is currently under investigation for a crash that killed a family of 4
- VinFast has so far struggled to crack into the U.S. market
VinFast has been sued in a Californian court by a real estate services firm that claims the carmaker hasn’t paid rent at one of its stores in California.
In the lawsuit, SPG Center asserts that VinFast stopped paying rent for the premises it occupies in a shopping center in Palo Alto in May 2023 and now owes a full year of rent totaling $356,000. The real estate firm says it sent the Vietnamese car manufacturer a notice to pay or quit on April 26 but alleges the company did not respond by the May 1 deadline.
Read: VinFast Opens First Five Dealerships In The U.S. Selling All-Electric VF 8
While companies involved in ongoing legal issues often refuse to comment, VinFast did respond, saying it has been making its monthly rent payments.
“The allegation that VinFast has not paid rent from May 1, 2023, to April 1, 2024, is inaccurate,” it said in a statement issued to Reuters. “We have made monthly rent payments up to and including March 2024. We have suspended rent payments since April 2024 due to ongoing negotiations with the landlord to amend the lease agreement.”
Squabbles over rent payments for one of its stores probably isn’t a priority for VinFast at the moment as just last week, it was announced federal safety regulators will investigate the cause of a crash involving a VinFast VF 8 that killed a family of four.
In April, Tarun and Rincy George and their two children were killed when the VF 8 then were in hit an oak tree and caught fire in Pleasanton, California. The NHTSA received a complaint from the owner of the VF 8 who had lent it to George, revealing he had previously experienced a steering problem with the SUV and was concerned this issue may have caused the crash.
