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Carlos Ghosn: What misconduct is he accused of?

TOKYO — Japan was shocked by news that Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn, who was widely respected for rescuing the carmaker from near bankruptcy, was arrested on Monday for alleged financial misconduct. Nissan said that Ghosn, who is also chairman and CEO of Renault and chairman of Mitsubishi Motors, would be fired from his post as Nissan chairman on Thursday. What is Carlos Ghosn accused of? Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa told a packed press conference on Monday night that the company had found that Ghosn had been using corporate money for personal purposes and under-reporting his income for years in official company filings to the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Another board member, Greg Kelly, was also deeply involved in the misconduct, Nissan said. Saikawa said he couldn't elaborate as the cases are being investigated by prosecutors, who have declined to comment. Prosecutors said that Ghosn and Kelly conspired to understate Ghosn's compensation over five years starting in fiscal 2010 as being about half of the actual 9.998 billion yen ($88.9 million). Public broadcaster NHK said Nissan paid billions of yen to buy and renovate homes for Ghosn in Rio, Beirut, Paris and Amsterdam, citing unnamed sources. The properties had no business purpose and were not listed as benefits in TSE filings, NHK said. Ghosn, 64, has not been formally charged. The Asahi newspaper reported that he and Kelly had submitted to prosecutors' questions after getting off a plane on Monday afternoon at Tokyo's Haneda Airport. Saikawa confirmed they had been arrested. Ghosn and Kelly have not been seen since, and their exact whereabouts are not known. Suspects are typically taken to the Tokyo Detention Center, which is linked to the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office. How did this come to light? Nissan's Saikawa said Ghosn's alleged improprieties came to light through a whistleblower, after which the company began an internal investigation and informed prosecutors. Japanese media reports say the informant is a member of Nissan's legal department. The Asahi reported, without citing sources, that the informant gave the prosecutors information in a plea bargain, implying the person may have provided evidence in exchange for a lighter sentence. How much control did Carlos Ghosn have? After becoming CEO of struggling Nissan in 2001, Ghosn was hailed as the automaker's savior by implementing an aggressive cost-cutting plan.

Panoz and DeltaWing suing Nissan over BladeGlider concept

Similarity is bound to occur in an industry where most of the products follow the same basic formula. But once in a while a new design comes along that doesn't quite reinvent the wheel, but comes pretty damn close. The DeltaWing project was one such design - and Nissan, the car's designers allege, stole that design.
After the DeltaWing proposal was rejected by the IndyCar series, its creators took it to Le Mans and brought Nissan on board to supply the power. Nissan subsequently pulled out of the program and came out with the ZEOD RC hybrid racer (right), bearing a suspiciously similar design with an unusually narrow front track at the end of a long nose cone, and a wider track at the back. The Japanese automaker then displayed the BladeGlider concept (below, right) at the Tokyo Motor Show, envisioning a translation of the same formula into road-going form.
The similarity did not escape Don Panoz, who - after making sports and racing cars under his own name and founding the now-defunct American Le Mans Series - was a central figure in bringing the original DeltaWing to life. Now Panoz has filed a lawsuit against Nissan, soliciting the courts to issue a cease-and-desist order on both the ZEOD RC and BladeGlider projects, naming Nissan motorsport chief Darren Cox and Ben Bowlby (who defected to Nissan from the DeltaWing program) as part of the suit.

Nissan e-NV200 electric taxi comes to Amsterdam

Amsterdam's Taxi Electric liked its two-plus years with an all-Nissan Leaf electric vehicle fleet so much that it just got bigger, or at least with its vehicle choice. The company, which says it's the first private-taxi outfit to boast an all-electric fleet, is going to start adding Nissan e-NV200 electric compact vans to its stable of vehicles. The company started out with its Leaf fleet in late 2011 and has since put about a million miles on the 25 EVs. Nissan said in January that the new electric van will start being tested by FedEx here in the state and it has already been put through the wringer by FedEx in Singapore, Japan and Germany. Last September, Nissan said it was in the "final development phase" of the electric compact van and would start selling it to the public this year, though it wasn't real specific with details. That month, it was also announced that the vehicle, which uses the same drivetrain as the Leaf, would go into taxi service in Barcelona sometime this year. Nissan representatives didn't immediately respond to a request for more details on when the model would start public sales, how much it would cost and what it's single charge range is. Until we hear back, you can check out the official press release below. This summer Taxi Electric becomes the first taxi company in Amsterdam to adopt the zero-emission Nissan e-NV200 Taxi Electric first 100% Nissan LEAF fleet since November 2011 Pioneering Amsterdam-based company have covered 1.5 million km demonstrating Nissan EVs' quality and reliability AMSTERDAM, Netherlands – Taxi Electric will be the first private taxi company to add the new 100-percent electric Nissan e-NV200 taxi to its green-energy zero-emission fleet. The combination of Nissan's innovative zero-emission technology, in the form of the 100-percent electric Nissan LEAF, and Taxi Electric's ground-breaking city transportation model have been a recipe for success since the start of operation in 2011. Now the two companies have teamed up again to build on this success and take the next step forward by introducing the game-changing all-electric Nissan e-NV200 taxi this summer. Amsterdam-based Taxi Electric operates a fleet of 25 Nissan LEAF vehicles. It was the first private taxi service to switch to a fleet of 100% electric taxis in 2011. The Dutch company's fleet of Nissan LEAFs has now amassed a trouble-free 1.5 million km in taxi operations – proof of the electric vehicle's high quality and reliability.