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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.

Mitsubishi Concept G4 leaves us feeling blue

To say we were unimpressed by the 2014 Mitsubishi Mirage that debuted in New York earlier this year would be one heck of an understatement. So pardon us for not oohing and aahing over the Concept G4 that we're seeing for the first time here in Shanghai. It is, basically, a Mirage sedan. Try to contain your excitement.
Mitsubishi states that it intends to roll out the production version of the G4 Concept globally, powered by a 1.2-liter MIVEC engine mated to a continuously variable transmission that should at least be good for some substantial fuel economy gains. The Mirage, after all, is rated at 37/44 miles per gallon city/highway. We're also told that the car will be very lightweight, and that this should aid in making this thing not drive like a total dud.
We'll wait and see how the relatively sharp lines of the concept transfer to production form, but given that we already know what the Mirage looks like, we have a pretty good feeling that we'll be just as underwhelmed the second time around. Have a look below for the press blast.

Mitsubishi Fuso targets female truckers with pink polka dot Canter

We take it for granted that women can enter just about any career they want now. But there are still countless occupations where females are underrepresented. You don't see too many women truckers, for example - particularly in a country that's still as deeply traditional as Japan. But Mitsubishi Fuso is showing just how forward thinking - and simultaneously, how traditional (pink polka dots are a bit 'on the nose') it can be with this hybrid pink truck.
Now for those unfamiliar, the Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation has nothing to do with Mitsubishi the car company these days. Instead, it's owned by Daimler, which we know best as the parent company of Mercedes-Benz. Yet Daimler also owns a number of truck and bus manufacturers - among them Freightliner, Thomas Built and Mitsubishi Fuso. One of latter's most popular products is the Canter, the model seen here coated in the shade of Pepto pink at the Tokyo Motor Show.
The point? To make truck driving more attractive to women, of course! We're not sure it'll catch on, but apart from the color scheme - which extends, incidentally, from the cab to the box and inside the cabin - this particular Canter (which Fuso has dubbed Canna) features a hybrid powertrain that produces 130 horsepower and 221 pound-feet of torque, paired to a 7.5Ah lithium-ion battery good for 270 volts. The whole package weighs 6,250 pounds and can carry three Japanese school girls dressed up as Sailor Moon in the front and plenty of Hello Kitty merchandise in the back.