2003 Mitsubishi Eclipse Gts Coupe 2-door 3.0l on 2040-cars

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Now Mitsubishi Motors has ousted Carlos Ghosn, days after Nissan firing

TOKYO — Mitsubishi Motors said on Monday its board removed Carlos Ghosn from his role as chairman, following his arrest and ouster from alliance partner Nissan last week for alleged financial misconduct. Ghosn's sacking in a unanimous board vote marks the end of his chairmanship of Japanese automakers, just two years after he was praised for bringing a steadying hand to Mitsubishi Motors following a cheating scandal in 2016. CEO Osamu Masuko will become temporary chairman, the automaker said. "Ghosn has lost the confidence of Nissan" and it is "difficult for him to fulfill his duties," spurring the dismissal, Mitsubishi Motors said in a statement. Nissan holds a controlling 34 percent stake in Mitsubishi Motors and has two executives on the board. The move comes amid discontent over French partner Renault SA's role in the 19-year Franco-Japanese alliance of which Ghosn was the driving force. Sealed in 1999 when Nissan was rescued from near-bankruptcy, it was enlarged in 2016 to include Mitsubishi and enabled the members to jointly develop products and control costs. The alliance vies with Volkswagen AG and Toyota for the ranking of the world's biggest automaker. Even as Nissan has recovered and grown rapidly, it remains a junior partner in the shareholding structure. Renault owns 43 percent of Nissan and the Japanese automaker holds a 15 percent non-voting stake in the French firm. And Nissan is almost 60 percent bigger than Renault by sales. Top alliance executives are meeting this week in Amsterdam, aiming to shield their joint operations from the fallout of Ghosn's arrest as a power struggle between Nissan and Renault looms. Renault has refrained from firing him as chairman and CEO. Mitsubishi Motors already had plans to discuss its position in the alliance with Ghosn and, following the ouster, it needs to consider focusing on regions and technology where it can retain competitiveness, CEO Masuko told reporters after the board meeting. Cooperation among alliance members is needed amid the rise of new technology like automated and internet-connected vehicles, he said. Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa told staff on Monday that power was too concentrated with Ghosn and that in future better communication between alliance board members and executives would help preserve independence and generate synergies among the automakers, a Nissan spokesman said.

Carlos Ghosn sues Nissan-Mitsubishi in the Netherlands

AMSTERDAM — Carlos Ghosn has launched a court case in the Netherlands against Japanese carmakers Nissan Motor and Mitsubishi Motors, who ousted him as chairman of their alliance last year on charges of embezzlement, Dutch newspaper NRC reported on Saturday. Ghosn is seeking 15 million euros ($16.8 million) in damages from the carmakers, as grave mistakes were made when he was sacked, NRC reported, citing his lawyer. "In the Netherlands, if you want to fire an executive you have to first tell him what he's being accused of, and you have to provide him with the evidence for the accusations. Neither of those things has happened," lawyer Laurens de Graaf told NRC. Ghosn fell from grace late last year when he was arrested in Japan and sacked by Nissan on charges of financial misconduct, which he denies. He has also been fired as the CEO and chairman of French carmaker Renault. Ghosn was freed in April from jail in Japan on a $4.5 million bail. Among other charges of fraud and misconduct, Nissan and Mitsubishi have said Ghosn improperly received $9 million in compensation from their joint venture. Suspect expenses Ghosn made when he chaired Renault and Nissan amounted to about 11 million euros, Renault's board said in June. Ghosn holds French, Lebanese and Brazilian citizenship, but opted for the fiscally more friendly Netherlands as his tax domicile in 2012. The holding company for the Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance is also incorporated in the Netherlands. The district court in Amsterdam is reviewing the case but has not set a trial date yet, NRC said. Government/Legal Hirings/Firings/Layoffs Mitsubishi Nissan Carlos Ghosn

Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV now for real due in 'late summer, early fall'

Any day now, American plug-in vehicle shoppers will be able to actually buy a plug-in hybrid SUV. Europeans and Japanese buyers have had this option for many years, since the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV went on sale in those markets in 2013. There have been plenty of diversions in the route that is bringing the big PHEV to our shores, but it's looking like, "late summer, early fall," is when thing will for real happen. 10-20 percent of total Outlander sales would be "a very good number." That's the message from Don Swearingen, executive vice president of Mitsubishi Motors North America (MMNA), who we spoke to at the New York Auto Show where the PHEV made its debut appearance. Swearingen said that the dealers are as ready as the customers. "As we talked to our dealer council, they are all very interested in this product," he said. "[Range anxiety was] eliminated with this vehicle, and because of that, I think we are going to have some pretty good response." Swearingen didn't put a specific number to that claim, but said that 10-20 percent of total Outlander sales (which currently sit at around 2,000 a month) would be "a very good number." Previously, Mitsubishi representatives said they expected to sell 4,000 PHEV units in the first year. As we've documented over the years, there were a number of reasons for why the US didn't get the first batch of Outlander PHEVs. One of the big ones was that the PHEV was selling like gangbusters elsewhere. It's the best-selling PHEV in all of Europe, for example, and was the fourth-best-selling plug-in vehicle anywhere in February 2016. And Mitsubishi just couldn't make enough of them. Swearingen said the main bottleneck for this was the battery pack supplier Lithium Energy Japan, which didn't have the capacity to make more than it did. So, instead of leaving three markets without enough supply, Mitsubishi decided to leave one in the lurch and focus on the other two. Plus, since the Outlander PHEV will be based on the 2017 gas-powered Outlander, it will come with numerous safety enhancements as well as the 100+ improvements that the 2016 Outlander got compared to the 2015. In other words, all the pieces are all coming together. The Outlander PHEV is "the best of both worlds." - Francine Harsini At least, that's what Francine Harsini, MMNA's senior director of marketing, said. The final important part are the customers, and Harsini said that Mitsubishi will be a big national marketing push. The general theme?