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Ghosn says French ambassador told him: 'Nissan is turning against you'

BEIRUT — Former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn said on Tuesday that the French ambassador had warned him shortly after his arrest that his own company was plotting against him. "Frankly, I was shocked by the arrest, and the first thing I asked is make sure Nissan knows so they can send me a lawyer," Ghosn told Reuters in an interview in Beirut. "And the second day, 24 hours from this, I received a visit from the French ambassador who told me: 'Nissan is turning against you'. And this is where I realized that the whole thing was a plot." Former Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa, who was forced to resign last year after admitting that he had received improper compensation, told a news conference shortly after Ghosn's arrest that Ghosn had been using corporate money for personal purposes and under-reporting his income for years. The arrest of Ghosn, widely respected for rescuing the carmaker from near-bankruptcy, has put Japan's criminal justice system under international scrutiny. Among the practices now under the spotlight are keeping suspects in detention for long periods and excluding defense lawyers from interrogations, which can last eight hours a day. "When he told me that 'two hours or three hours later, after your arrest, Saikawa went in a press conference and made his infamous statement where he said, you know, 'I am horrified, but what I'm learning...'' — so when he told me he made these statements, I said 'Oh my God this is a plot'."   Related: Yamaha warns not to climb into instrument cases after Ghosn arrest   Ghosn, 65, fled Japan last month while awaiting trial on charges of under-reporting earnings, breach of trust and misappropriation of company funds, all of which he denies. The one-time titan of the car industry said the alternative to fleeing would have been to spend the rest of his life languishing in Japan without a fair trial. Ghosn said he had escaped to his childhood home of Lebanon in order to clear his name. He noted that there were conflicting stories about his astonishing escape, but declined to say how he had managed to flee. Tokyo prosecutors said his allegations of a conspiracy were false and that he had failed to justify his acts. The 14-month saga has shaken the global auto industry and jeopardized the Renault-Nissan alliance, of which Ghosn was the mastermind. Japan's Ministry of Justice has said it will try to find a way to bring Ghosn back from Lebanon, even the countries have no extradition treaty.

Nissan could offer plug-in hybrids by 2016

Nissan is recharging the idea of a production plug-in hybrid model. The Japanese automaker may start making a plug-in hybrid by as soon as late 2015, with deliveries to start in time for the 2016 model year, Green Car Reports says, citing an interview with company executive Andy Palmer. Those comments go against what Nissan said during the North American Auto Show in January. Palmer didn't specify what class of vehicle the plug-in hybrid would be, but he said battery-electric vehicles are best suited for cars 3,850 pounds or lighter, according to Green Car Reports. That would imply that the plug-in hybrid powertrain may be used for a mid-sized sedan or a crossover vehicle. Either way, a Nissan PHEV may pair the Nissan Leaf's 108-horsepower electric motor with a gas engine. Whether Palmer's projected timeframe was more of a ballpark estimate is anyone's guess, as the company hasn't made official plans for a 2016 model-year plug-in hybrid, Nissan spokesman Tim Gallagher wrote in an e-mail to AutoblogGreen. Either way, feel free to join us in the comments below. Nissan is coming off its best-ever sale month for the Leaf, which has moved about 115,000 units around the world. Domestic sales of the Leaf in May rose 46 percent from a year earlier to a monthly record 3,117 vehicles. Through the first five months of the year, Leaf sales increased 36 percent, to 10,389 units.

Nissan GT-R drag races Swiss fighter jet

Proving that speed is fun in any language, Nissan's German arm recently pitted a GT-R up against an ex-Swiss Air Force fighter jet, called the Hawker Hunter. Now the idea of a car-versus-plane drag race is nothing new, but this is the first time we can recall a GT-R being involved.
While this Nissan video is almost a month old, we're pretty sure you won't be disappointed by the action, which shows the two high-speed machines racing along the two-kilometer runway. We don't want to ruin the suspense, so scroll down for the latest matchup of sports car versus fighter jet.