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Carlos Ghosn video: 'This is about conspiracy. This is about backstabbing'

TOKYO — Nissan's former Chairman Carlos Ghosn maintained his innocence in a video released by his legal team Tuesday and accused some executives at the Japanese automaker of a "conspiracy" that led to his arrest on financial misconduct allegations. "The first message is that I'm innocent," said Ghosn, wearing a white shirt and dark jacket and speaking calmly in the nearly 10-minute video shown at the Foreign Correspondents' Club in Tokyo. "This is a conspiracy," he said. "This is not about specific events, this is not about, again, greed, this is not about dictatorship. This is about a plot. This is about conspiracy. This is about backstabbing." His lawyer Junichiro Hironaka said the video was prepared in case Ghosn was not able to speak at a news conference planned for Thursday. Ghosn was arrested last week while out on bail and remains at the Tokyo Detention Center. Ghosn said the executives behind the conspiracy were motivated by what he called "selfish fears," including what they saw as a merger with French alliance partner Renault SA. They mistook his leadership for greed and dictatorship, when he was the biggest defender of Nissan's autonomy, Ghosn said. He also said he was worried about Nissan, wondering whether those executives were really watching out for the company. Hironaka said a section of the video in which Ghosn mentioned names was removed on his legal advice. Nissan Motor Co., while declining to comment on the criminal case, has said an internal investigation has found that Ghosn falsified financial documents to under-report compensation, and that he used Nissan money for personal gain. "Nissan's internal investigation has uncovered substantial evidence of blatantly unethical conduct," company spokesman Nicholas Maxfield said when asked for comment on Ghosn's video. "The company's focus remains on addressing weaknesses in governance that enabled this misconduct." Ghosn's fourth arrest was on a fresh breach of trust allegation based on suspicion that payments from a Nissan subsidiary to an Oman dealership were diverted to a company effectively run by Ghosn. On Monday, Nissan Motor Co. shareholders voted to oust Ghosn from its board and to approve the appointment of French alliance partner Renault SA's Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard as Ghosn's replacement. Renault owns 43 percent of Nissan.

Mitsubishi Motors Chairman Masuko resigns due to health reasons

Osamu Masuko (Getty Images)   TOKYO — Mitsubishi Motors said on Friday Osamu Masuko resigned as chairman due to health reasons and has handed over the role to CEO Takao Kato on a temporary basis. A veteran of the larger Mitsubishi conglomerate, Masuko joined the automaker in 2004 and became president in 2007. He oversaw the creation of the partnership between Mitsubishi and Nissan in 2016, which saw Nissan take a controlling stake in the company. The 71-year-old will stay on at Mitsubishi as a special adviser, the company said in a statement. It did not specify what Masuko was ailing from. Masuko was at the helm of Mitsubishi during a 2016 scandal in which the automaker was found to have overstated the fuel economy on its vehicles. An investigation uncovered slack governance and pressure on resourced-starved engineers as chronic issues at the company. CEO Takao Kato adds the role of chairman. (Getty Images)   The scandal was Mitsubishi's third in two decades, and it pummeled profits and tarnished the automaker' s brand. At the height of the scandal, Nissan lent its smaller rival a lifeline by offering the company $2.2 billion for a 34% controlling stake. The deal was agreed between Masuko and then Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn, and brought Mitsubishi in as a junior partner in the Nissan-Renault automaking alliance. Masuko later denounced his ties with Ghosn following Ghosn's 2018 arrest in Japan over financial misconduct, charges that Ghosn has denied. All three members of the alliance are currently mired in financial problems after years of aggressive expansion policies under Ghosn's leadership resulted in falling vehicle sales. A further drop in global car demand due to the coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated these problems, and Mitsubishi, Nissan and Renault are each bracing for steep annual operating losses this year. Related Video:      

Mitsubishi considering a small pickup for the United States

Mitsubishi hasn’t sold a pickup truck in the United States since the Mighty Max in the late 1990s, but there is mounting evidence that the brandÂ’s dry spell may end. At a recent vehicle launch, Carson Grover, the brandÂ’s director for product planning, said the company is considering a new pickup for the U.S. market but acknowledged the challenges involved with doing so. Reported by The Drive, Grover said pickup trucks were “another one of those things we want to try to figure out.” The problem with those ambitions is the Chicken Tax, a heavy 25% tariff on imported trucks. That insane percentage is why Toyota and Nissan build trucks here, and itÂ’s why we donÂ’t see cool foreign-market trucks like the Volkswagen Amarok. Mitsubishi will need a partner if it plans to bring a truck here, which it conveniently has in its Alliance partner, Nissan. The Frontier could form the basis for a Mitsu pickup, but GroverÂ’s comments suggest the automaker could have other plans. “The Ford Ranger, the old ranger, that was much smaller, had so much volume and was around so long.” He went to namedrop the Ford Maverick as well, which he said fills the small, affordable gap that the Ranger used to occupy. As The Drive pointed out, it might be possible for Mitsubishi to repurpose the existing Rogue platform for a small pickup, but Grover was careful to note that the company isnÂ’t making any announcements on the subject. As is the case with the vast majority of requests for comment on future product, Grover declined to elaborate but did say the company has taken notice of other trucksÂ’ popularity. A new American-market truck could further revitalize the Mitsubishi brand in North America. The automaker recently revived another of its iconic nameplates in late 2022 with Ralliart versions of all its vehicles. MitsubishiÂ’s motorsports arm made a name for itself in the World Rally Championship starting in the late 1980s, and some of the coolest cars to wear the brandÂ’s badge have also been stamped with the Ralliart name. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.