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French investigators will question Carlos Ghosn in Lebanon

BEIRUT — A team of French investigators will come to Beirut next month to participate in interrogating former Renault-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn, a Lebanese justice ministry official said Saturday. The official gave no specific date or details of what information the investigators would seek from Ghosn. Former auto executive Ghosn, who is a Lebanese, Brazilian and French national, fled Japan in a dramatic escape that drew headlines last year, arriving in Lebanon on Dec. 30, 2019. In addition to his trial in Japan, the 66-year-old businessman is facing a number of legal challenges in France, including tax evasion and alleged money laundering, fraud and misuse of company assets while at the helm of the Renault-Nissan alliance. The Lebanese official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said the French investigators would be working alongside their Lebanese counterparts. Information about investigations is secret under French law, and French judicial officials did not respond to requests for comment Saturday on the report. After leading the Japanese automaker Nissan for two decades, Ghosn was arrested in Japan in November 2018 on charges of breach of trust, misusing company assets for personal gains and violating securities laws by not fully disclosing his compensation. He denied wrongdoing and fled Japan while out on bail awaiting trial. He is unlikely to be extradited from Lebanon, where he has been since last year. At least two Ghosn-related investigations were opened in France. One focused on suspicious transactions between Renault and a distributor in Oman, as well as suspected payments for private trips and events paid by Renault-NissanÂ’s Netherlands-based holding company RNBV. Another investigation focused on suspected misuse of company funds for a party for Ghosn at Versailles. The French inquiry aims to determine who is at fault for a string of alleged financial violations between 2009 and 2020. That includes “suspicious financial flows” between Renault and the SBA car dealership in Oman. This aspect of the inquiry is targeting several million euros of travel and other costs paid by the Netherlands-based Renault-Nissan holding RNBV but suspected to have been for GhosnÂ’s personal use. GhosnÂ’s French lawyers have said the payments to SBA were “justified bonuses” for having boosted car sales in the Persian Gulf and denied allegations that the funds benefited Ghosn or his family personally.

Recharge Wrap-up: Renovo Coupe at CES, Aussies tour US in Tesla Model S

Australians review the Tesla Model S in a Seattle to LA road trip video. The folks from CarAdvice drive the P85+ along the West Coast of the US, testing out the car, trying the Superchargers, stopping by some notable sites along the way and even making use of roadside assistance. While the video shows what it's like to take the Tesla on a US road trip, it gives viewers Down Under a glimpse of their own future. Tesla just began sales in a country that, while on the other side of the globe, also features long distances between cities and a new Supercharger network. Check out the video below or read more at Inside EVs. A UK taxi company is introducing the Nissan e-NV200 to its fleet. C&C Taxi, which has been using six Nissan Leafs in its Cornwall taxi service since early December, has added the passenger-ready e-NV200 Combi to its stable of cabs. Mark Richards, manager of C&C's fleet, is happy with its performance and money saved after over 1,000 miles of service so far, and plans to replace the rest of the diesel fleet with EVs. The Nissan e-NV200 Combi "does everything the Leaf does but is much bigger and offers more space," says Richards. "We'll definitely be ordering more." Learn more in the video below or read more at Hybrid Cars. Learn more about Nissan's fleet EVs at the company's website. The US Department of Energy has released a new report on EV charging behavior and its impact on the grid. The report, which covers grant projects from six different utilities, includes data from over 270 public chargers and 700 residential charging units. Most at-home charging took place at night during off-peak hours. There were some reports of problems with chargers and smart meters working together. Most public charging took place during peak hours, but was low compared to home charging. This means a longer cost recovery period due to the high cost of installation. See the report at the DOE website or read more at Green Car Congress. The Renovo Coupe will be on display at the NVIDIA booth at the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) for its first public viewing. Renovo Motors CEO Christopher Heiser says, "These are very exciting times for Renovo and we think our new technology, coupled with NVIDIA's breakthroughs in automotive applications, has the potential to make a tremendous impact across the entire automotive industry." The Shelby Daytona-bodied Renovo offers 500 horsepower and 1,000 pound-feet of torque from two electric motors.

The Nissan Ariya was nearly the new Murano

NEW YORK — In addition to providing thoughts on a future Xterra while at the New York International Auto Show, Nissan Americas Senior Vice President and Chief Planning Officer Ponz Pandikuthira also talked with us a bit about EVs, and more specifically model lines and nameplates. We've seen a few strategies ranging from almost completely new and parallel model lines (such as Hyundai's Ioniqs and Kia's EV#s), to reusing old names on still similarly parallel models (such as Chevy's Equinox, Blazer and Silverado EVs), and of course blends of the two. So far, Nissan has gone with the separate model route with Leaf and Ariya, but that may not be as much the case in the future. Pandikuthira noted that now, consumers don't have as much interest in their EVs being some completely unique, statement piece. As such, both Nissan and Infiniti will be adding EVs to existing nameplates more so than totally new model lines. He didn't say whether they would simply be electric variants of existing internal combustion models, or something like Chevy's model, though. But he did note that the Nissan Ariya was, at one point, considered as a possible Murano successor. It certainly would make sense to us. The Ariya is a distinct-looking crossover, and one with a very upscale interior, both key tenets of the Murano from that model's introduction in the early 2000s. Plus, the Murano is in pretty dire need of a replacement, as the current generation dates back nearly a decade ago to the 2015 model year. The reason Pandikuthira gave for the Ariya decision was that the crossover represented enough of a change in Nissan's EV technology and capabilities that the brand wanted to highlight that with a unique nameplate. Nissan won't be ruling out the possibility of new EV-only models, though. Just like with Ariya, Pandikuthira told us that if a planned car is unique enough, the company will still be open to a new line. But expect more, say, electric Rogues and Altimas than totally new names. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.