2011 Nissan Maxima on 2040-cars

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Ghosn's legacy: one of the auto industry's most effective execs

"Bob Lutz ... estimated that carrying out the Nissan operation would be the equivalent, for Renault, of putting $5 billion in a container ship and sinking it in the middle of the ocean." So wrote Carlos Ghosn in "SHIFT: Inside Nissan's Historic Revival," which was published in the U.S. in late 2004. Two points about that observation: It is in keeping with Lutz's "Often wrong but never in doubt." It shows that Ghosn is a remarkable executive, given that he was able to take Nissan from the edge of financial oblivion to one of the foremost automotive companies (although with alliance partners Renault and, more recently, Mitsubishi). In 1999, Ghosn created what was named the "Nissan Revival Plan." It could have just as well been called the "Nissan Resuscitation Plan." Things were that bad. Now Ghosn is in the midst of legal trouble, accused of financial improprieties of some sort. There is no indication that this is at anything near the scale of what happened at Volkswagen Group. There's malfeasance. And then there's malfeasance. It is likely that this is going to be the end of Ghosn's career, but at age 64, and as a man who has spent nearly the past quarter-century essentially on airplanes, it is probably a good time to leave the stage. What his next act will be — to court or even prison — is an open question. But arguably, Ghosn's performance in the transformation of Nissan and Renault, which also needed some strong medicine to keep it from collapse in the early '00s (although one suspects that the French government would have done its damnedest to keep it propped up), makes him one of the all-time most-notable executives in the auto industry. Ghosn closed plants in both France and Japan and he worked to dismantle the Nissan keiretsu network of interlocked companies, things that were absolutely unthinkable. He established plans with stretch goals in their titles, like the "20 Billion Franc Cost-Reduction Plan," and worked with his people to achieve them, despite the pushback that seemed to come along with the announcement of the plan. As in, as he recalled in SHIFT, "Some people said, 'He's off the deep end. He's raving mad. Doesn't he know that at Renault you set the most conservative goals possible so you can be certain to reach them?' My answer to that sort of thinking was 'You're going to get what you ask for. If you set the bar too low, you'll be a low-level performance.

Nissan Leaf makes it 19 in a row for record sales; Chevy Volt drops 21 percent

The Nissan Leaf continues its streak of "best month ever" sales with 2,881 EVs sold in September. Compared to the 1,953 sold in September 2013, that represents an increase of 47.5 percent and, as Nissan itself must be tired of saying by now, it marks yet another best month ever, same as last month and now the 19th in a row. Okay, sure, we know, Nissan will tout this run for as long as it can, but we're certainly expecting it each month, so if it ever doesn't happen, it'll be interesting to see how Nissan talks about it. Year-to-date, Leaf sales are up 35.7 percent compared to 2013. In any case, Nissan's director of EV marketing, Toby Perry, sent AutoblogGreen a statement that said, "Nissan Leaf owners have turned into some of our best marketers, and they jump at any opportunity to share their enthusiasm with friends and family. Take National Drive Electric Week – a grassroots celebration of all things EV and the perfect platform for LEAF owners to showcase the benefits of going electric. After celebrating with EV owners in more than 130 cities across the country, we saw a significant increase in Leaf showroom visits with midweek traffic just as heavy as what we see on the weekends." Year-to-date, Leaf sales are up 35.7 percent compared to 2013. Over on the Chevy Volt front, things aren't quite as rosy. After coming off a good August (the best sales month of 2014 by almost 500 units), Volt sales were down to 1,394, a decrease of 21.1 percent compared to September 2013. So far this year, Volt sales are down 13.2 percent year-over-year. It's kind of a stretch, but perhaps people are already waiting for the next-gen Volt, which will be revealed at the Detroit Auto Show in January, to go on sale? Speaking of things we say every month, our in-depth round-up of US green car sales is in process and will be appearing soon. Until then, please discuss how these two long-standing plug-in champs are doing on the sales floor. Green Chevrolet Nissan Electric Hybrid PHEV ev sales hybrid sales

Nissan pokes fun at Tesla's New Jersey woes, then deletes Tweet

Ever have one of those moments when you release something out onto Twitter, only to think better of it a little while later and reach for that garbage can icon? If so, you are not alone. In fact, you're in the company of a certain Japanese automaker, who recently joined the ranks of those who've suffered an embarrassing bout of tweetus deletus. The Nissan Leaf social media team apparently thought it would be amusing to take a light poke at Tesla Motors and its New Jersey dealer fight woes on its Twitter feed and put together the cheeky graphic which you see above. It was originally published on the micro-blogging network accompanied by the text, "It's okay #NewJersey, you can still #GoElectric with the #NissanLEAF #EV." Funny, right? Not to everyone. The image attracted a bit of mild criticism which, to their credit, Nissan responded to saying, "It's all in #EV love." Soon, however, the original image disappeared from the @NissanLEAF feed. Luckily, we saved a copy for your edification. Rob Robinson, senior specialist of social communications for Nissan, told AutoblogGreen that the Leaf Twitter account is run by an agency, and that the tweet in question, "Was not a tweet that was reviewed or approved by Nissan. We saw it and asked them to take it down." As for the reasoning, Robinson said that, "We thought it was a discussion we didn't need to be weighing in on." While we can see the Nissan point of view, we also appreciate the attempt at being irreverent. Anything to break up the monotony of the stale toast the account usually offers up – "What would you nickname your Nissan Leaf if it was Ocean Blue?" which is the last undeleted Tweet available on the feed, as of this writing. We actually applaud the intention of the Tesla post. It all makes us wonder, though, if the social media team over there isn't in need of a little input on how they might improve its outreach. Since we know our readers are not shy in offering suggestions, we ask you to leave your thoughts and ideas for them in the Comments.