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Dutch court orders Ghosn to repay Nissan-Mitsubishi $6 million in wages

AMSTERDAM — A court in Amsterdam on Thursday ordered fugitive former car executive Carlos Ghosn to repay Nissan and Mitsubishi almost 5 million euros ($6.1 million) in wages he received from their Dutch registered joint venture Nissan-Mitsubishi BV in 2018. Nissan and Mitsubishi, which ousted Ghosn as chairman of their companies and of their joint venture after his arrest for financial misconduct in 2018, claimed Ghosn had wrongly granted the wages to himself. Ghosn had brought the case himself, demanding 15 million euros in compensation for missed wages and severance payments as he claimed Nissan and Mitsubishi had violated Dutch labor laws when they dismissed him from the Amsterdam-based joint venture in 2019. But the district court in Amsterdam sided with the car companies, stating that Ghosn did not have a valid employment agreement with the joint venture, as it lacked the required consent of the boards of Nissan and Mitsubishi. The amount Ghosn needs to repay equals the net payments he received from the joint venture between April and November 2018, the court said. Ghosn, who has denied wrongdoing, was chairman of both Nissan and Mitsubishi and chief executive of Renault when he was arrested in Japan in 2018 on charges of underreporting his salary and using company funds for personal purposes. He fled to Lebanon in December 2019 hidden in carry-on luggage on a private jet that flew out of Kansai Airport, and has remained in that country since. ($1 = 0.8204 euros) (Reporting by Bart Meijer, editing by Jason Neely and Keith Weir) Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. 2021 Nissan Rogue Platinum interior tour

Mitsubishi's rally-inspired Triton XRT previews next-gen pickup

The Triton pickup just might be the most interesting thing in Mitsubishi's lineup. The midsize pickup is available in approximately 150 countries, though the U.S. isn't among them. Overseas it's a serious contender against the Toyota Hilux and Ford Ranger, so the next version is very important for the company. As such, Mitsubishi is drumming up excitement for the next-generation pickup with the Triton XRT Concept, unveiled today at the Bangkok Motor Show. The truck features a more blocky, upright grille than the outgoing model, a trend we've seen on full-size pickups in the past few years. The bulked-up XRT features wears flared fenders, a snorkel and mud-terrain tires that likely won't be found on run-of-the-mill Tritons when the model debuts.  It's possible, however, that Mitsubishi plans to offer its own interpretation of an off-road rig similar to Toyota's TRD Pro line of trucks. The Triton XRT concept wears the logo of Ralliart, Mitsubishi's motorsports division that racked up many victories in the WRC and Paris-Dakar Rally. Mitsubishi recently relaunched Ralliart after over a decade of dormancy. Though initially Ralliart appears to be peddling only cosmetic upgrades, the Triton XRT could change that. Ralliart entered and won the Asia Cross Country Rally last year and plans to do so again for 2023. Helming the program was Hiroshi Masuoka, a Mitsubishi factory driver that won the Dakar Rally twice. While the dearly departed Lancer Evolution doesn't appear to be anywhere on the horizon, a truck-based Ralliart program might be just what Mitsubishi needs to rekindle the brand in enthusiasts' hearts. These days 4x4s and overlanders are arguably more popular with customizers than all-wheel-drive sedans, and Mitsubishi is well-poised to capitalize on that with its many off-road motorsports accomplishments. Unfortunately, the Triton has huge hurdles to overcome if it's to make it to U.S. shores. Foreign pickups are still subject to the Chicken Tax, a 25% tariff on trucks that aren't assembled in the U.S. Toyota and Nissan build their trucks in America to bypass the tax, but Mitsubishi doesn't have the manufacturing base to do that. Still, it's something Mitsubishi execs are trying to figure out, as our insatiable appetite for pickups isn't going away anytime soon. 

Junkyard Gem: 1983 Mitsubishi Starion

Americans had been buying Mitsubishis with Dodge or Plymouth badging for more than a decade when the first Mitsubishi-badged cars began showing up on these shores. For the 1983 model year, Mitsubishi USA offered the Cordia, the Tredia, the Mighty Max, and the Starion; the latter was a futuristic-looking rear-wheel-drive sports car that took direct aim at potential buyers of the Supra, the 280ZX, the RX-7, and even the Camaro. Here's a rare first-year "narrow-body" Starion in a Denver self-service wrecking yard. Even though every Starion sported a turbocharged engine, the word TURBO was considered so magical during this era that no self-respecting car company in 1983 would have refrained from adding at least a couple of TURBO badges. Later Starions (and Conquests) even had TURBO badging sewn into the seat belts. In 1983, the Starion's 2.6-liter Astron packed 145 horsepower, which compared favorably to the optional 175-horse engine in the much heavier 1983 Camaro Z28 (the base Z28 engine made 150hp). The 280ZX cost more and offered 145 horsepower; the 280ZX Turbo cost lots more but had 180 horses. This car looks tired but not rusty. The pins stuck into fuel-injection electrical connectors tell a sad story of its final days on the road; a frustrated owner tried to use a multimeter to figure out hard-to-diagnose electrical woes. Auto-reverse was a high-end audio-system feature in 1983 cars. Mitsubishi made (and still makes) plenty of good consumer electronics, so the sound systems in these cars were considered high-quality stuff for their time. I shot this car with a circa-1983 cereal-box-prize film camera, because it seemed like a good idea. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. With music by Osamu Kitajima and artwork by Shuse Nagaoka (whose work you may know from all those 1970s ELO and Earth, Wind & Fire album covers), the Japanese-market ad for this car reveals its SUPER POTENTIAL.