WionDrive News Desk 
A real estate firm, SPG Center LLC, has filed a lawsuit against the Vietnamese electric vehicle manufacturer VinFast in a California court. The lawsuit alleges that VinFast failed to pay rent for a store location in a Palo Alto shopping center.
According to the complaint filed on May 14th with the Superior Court of Santa Clara County, VinFast rented the premises starting in late March 2023 but stopped making rent payments from May 2023 through April 2024.
The total amount owed is claimed to be nearly $356,000, equivalent to 12 months of rent. However, VinFast has stated that the allegations made in the complaint are inaccurate.
“The allegation that VinFast has not paid rent from May 1, 2023, to April 1, 2024, is inaccurate,” VinFast said in a statement 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,” VinFast added.
According to the complaint filed by SPG Center, they served VinFast with a notice to pay the outstanding rent or vacate the premises on April 26th. However, VinFast allegedly failed to comply with the requirements outlined in the notice by the May 1st deadline.
Apart from that, VinFast is facing two separate investigations in the United States. The first relates to an April accident in California involving a VinFast VF8 vehicle, which resulted in four fatalities. The second probe concerns alleged violations of ArcelorMittal’s patents for aluminum used in the construction of the VF8 model.
Additionally, two law firms have filed a class-action lawsuit against VinFast in April on behalf of shareholders. The plaintiffs in this case allege that misleading statements made by the automaker have caused them financial harm.
Earlier this month, the Pleasanton Weekly quoted a VinFast spokesperson stating that the company was aware of the accident and that the authorities were investigating the cause, promising to share their findings upon the completion of their work.
The NHTSA typically initiates over 100 special crash investigations annually, focusing on emerging technologies and other potential auto safety concerns.
The Pleasanton Police have disclosed that the family did not own the vehicle involved in the accident. TechCrunch first reported this on Monday.
