450whp Tuned By His Motorsports on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Nissan ex-Chairman Carlos Ghosn wins release from jail

TOKYO — The Tokyo District Court approved the release of former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn on bail of 1 billion yen ($8.9 million) on Tuesday, although the end of his four months of detention in Japan was delayed when prosecutors appealed that decision. Prosecutors filed their objection to Ghosn's release within hours of the announcement he was going to be granted bail. But their appeal was rejected by the court, paving the way for his release. A lawyer for Ghosn said he would not be able to leave the Tokyo Detention Center until Wednesday at the earliest, because bail procedures can't be done at night. The acceptance of Ghosn's request for bail, his third, came a day after the lawyer, Junichiro Hironaka, said he was confident the auto executive would gain his release. Hironaka, who recently joined Ghosn's defense team, is famous for winning acquittals in Japan, a nation where the conviction rate is 99 percent. Hironaka said Monday that he had offered new ways to monitor Ghosn after his release, such as camera surveillance. Hironaka also questioned the grounds for Ghosn's arrest, calling the case "very peculiar," and suggesting it could have been dealt with as an internal company matter. He welcomed the decision, telling reporters: "It was good we proposed concrete ways showing how he would not tamper with evidence or try to flee." The 1 billion yen bail set by the court was relatively high but not the highest ever in Japan. Among the conditions for Ghosn's release were restrictions on where he can live, a ban on foreign travel and other promises not to tamper with evidence or try to flee, the court said. The former head of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Motors alliance has been detained since he was arrested on Nov. 19. He says he is innocent of charges of falsifying financial information and of breach of trust. In Japan, suspects are routinely detained for months, often until their trials start. That's especially true of those who insist on their innocence. Prosecutors say suspects may tamper with evidence and shouldn't be released. Two previous requests submitted by his legal team were denied. His previous defense lawyer, Motonari Ohtsuru, had said Ghosn's release might not come for months. Hironaka is among many critics of the Japanese justice system who say such lengthy detentions of suspects are unfair.

Mitsubishi planning to bring back Lancer as hybrid crossover

It looks like the Mitsubishi Lancer is about to undertake a daring transformation from a ten-year-old sedan to a crossover. The Eclipse has already shed its coupe roots and become the Eclipse Cross, and now it's the Lancer's turn to become a high-rider. The carmaker already teased its future plans with the e-Evolution concept last year (pictured above), again combining a previously successful Mitsubishi nameplate with new crossover intentions. Now, talking to AutoExpress, Mitsubishi's chief operating officer and chief designer both hint of the Lancer taking the shape of the e-Evolution. For Mitsubishi, the Lancer's segment still looks very viable in the next decade, but it doesn't necessarily want to fight the Ford Focus and the VW Golf with a conventional hatchback, let alone a three-box saloon. "We believe we have a solution that could fit the segment", said COO Trevor Mann. "[The segment's] numbers are still expanding in China, so there's appeal. And I think because the segment is so large globally, we've got to take a look at it." The chief designer, Tsunehiro Kunimoto said, "Just because it's C-segment, it doesn't mean it has to be a very conventional hatchback. Maybe we can create a new type of hatchback vehicle. We're thinking quite radically." It is also likely that the Lancer's eventual replacement will use hybrid technology and a Renault-Nissan Alliance platform — and an all-wheel-drive option would still be a nod to the Lancer Evo's heritage, at least partially justifying any use of the Evolution brand. Trevor Mann says the product timeline is largely set until 2025, and the existing crossovers in the portfolio, the Outlander and the Outlander Sport (known elsewhere as the ASX) will get replacements. The company is now directing its attention to the Lancer and the Montero, both of which have last had a major update over ten years ago. The Lancer was phased out in the U.S. last fall after a very long run. Related Video:

Turns out Mitsubishi's history is far more interesting than we thought

Former Autoblog editor-in-chief Mike Austin was kind enough to drop this little nugget onto Twitter yesterday: the history of Mitsubishi timeline on the company's press website. Basically, it's a virtual museum, spanning from the 1917 Mitsubishi Model A to the 2008 Galant Fortis Sportback. Frankly, it's not that surprising that they didn't go much further beyond that, but still, the timeline provides both a fun trip down memory lane and an introduction to fun and/or wacky JDM models we never got.  Besides showing photos, there's actually a sizable amount of info for each, which has quite clearly and often delightfully been translated from Japanese. Take the New Minica Toppo that "adopted a 1:2 door configuration with a single door on the driver's side and two doors on the passenger side (think a Hyundai Veloster), as well as a 'Super High Roof' that added 70 mm to the height of the standard roof ... Addressing the desire to drive something a little different, the lineup was soon joined by a number of variants with personalities designed to bring more fun to the class and including the recreation specification Carabosse, the young mother and baby-oriented Marble, and the Town Bee with its round frog-eye headlamps projecting just forward of the leading edge of the engine hood." Also, check out those diagonal door handles. There are more than just JDM kei car oddities, however. There's the Mitsubishi FTO, which you may remember from Gran Turismo and other racing video games from back in the day. It was "a car that delivered fun-to-drive qualities in abundance (and) was selected 1994-1995 Japan Car of the Year." If you didn't know, it was called the FTO because it slotted below the Mitsubishi GTO, the car you know as the 3000GT. I didn't know that before. Thanks, timeline! There's also the off-roady JDM Delica vans that are now all over the Pacific Northwest having surpassed the 25-year import embargo. The 1994 Delica Space Gear (above left) was notable in that it moved the engine under the hood rather than beneath the front seats where it was previously (above right with the Delica Star Wagon), but according to the timeline "The Gear variant name was added in the belief that customers would become attached to it as a familiar 'piece of gear' for leisure and everyday purposes." Judging by the ones I see around here in Portland, mission accomplished. "Suspension was by double wishbone at the front and a 5-link with coil spring arrangement at the rear.