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Ghosn hid part of Nissan salary, fearing he'd be forced out of Renault, exec testifies

TOKYO — Carlos Ghosn hid part of his compensation at Nissan because he feared the French government would force him out of Renault if it discovered how much he earned, an executive at the Japanese carmaker told a Tokyo court on Thursday. Hari Nada, a former Nissan vice president in charge of legal affairs, has been described as organizer of a putsch against Ghosn and is a key whistleblower in the case brought by Japanese prosecutors against the former Nissan and Renault boss, who was arrested in 2018. Nada was testifying at the trial of former Nissan executive Greg Kelly, who is charged with helping Ghosn hide 9.3 billion yen ($89 million) in compensation over eight years through deferred payments after Japan introduced new rules requiring executives to disclose payments above 1 billion yen. Kelly has pleaded not guilty. He has been on bail in Japan since his release from jail in 2018 and is facing trial without Ghosn because his co-accused fled to Lebanon in December 2019. Ghosn, who was one of the world's most prominent auto bosses as head of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, has denied wrongdoing. He says he is the victim of a boardroom coup by former Nissan colleagues worried he would push through a merger between Nissan and Renault, its largest shareholder. Nada told the court that Ghosn had concealed his true compensation because he feared the repercussions in France. He said Kelly had given him this information. "He didn't want to be fired. If he paid himself what he wanted and that was disclosed, the French state would have felt obliged to fire him," said Nada, who agreed to cooperate with Japanese prosecutors in return for immunity from prosecution. France's economy ministry declined to comment. Nada was demoted following Ghosn's arrest. Ghosn, who is also charged with enriching himself through $5 million in payments to a Middle East car dealership, and for a breach of trust for temporarily transferring personal financial losses to his employer's books, also denies any wrongdoing. A former Nissan chief operating officer offered another perspective on Tuesday, outlining the pains company officials took to hide GhosnÂ’s pay, because they worried about his quitting for a rival. “Carlos Ghosn is a world-class business leader and CEO,” said Toshiyuki Shiga, testifying at the trial of his former colleague Greg Kelly, charged with under-reporting GhosnÂ’s compensation.

GT-R driver walks away from terrifying dragstrip accident

With all-wheel drive, launch control and a dual-clutch transmission, the Nissan GT-R may be easier to manage than most supercars. But that doesn't mean that dragging one on a wet strip is a good idea.
Filmed at the Unlimited 500+ drag race in Moscow, Russia, this video depicts a pair of GT-Rs going head to head. But things didn't go quite as planned when the driver of one lost control of her twin-turbo supercar. We'll let the video below speak for itself, but thankfully it appears no one was hurt - an outcome that seems particularly remarkable in light of the fact that it appears that the driver was not wearing a fire suit or helmet.

Panoz mulls suing Nissan for ZEOD RC's Deltawing likeness

Imitation might be the sincerest form of flattery, but in racing, where something as simple as a car's shape can lead to a competitive advantage, imitation can be a big no-no. That reality is being played out right now, with the DeltaWing prototype and the Nissan ZEOD RC. The two cars, as you can see from the images above, bear a striking resemblance to each other. They're so similar, in fact, that Dr. Don Panoz, one of the big names behind the DeltaWing program, is assigning some legal eagles to investigate any patent infringement.
The similarity shouldn't be a shock, though. Both cars are penned by Ben Bowlby, and the DeltaWing - which will be arriving as a coupe in the very near future - had Nissan branding and power for a not-insignificant amount of time. But for Panoz, the ZEOD RC's resemblance is just a bit too much, as he told Autoweek, "It's been interesting to watch people from Nissan trying to dodge the question, but the fact is that in their own press release they admit that the configuration of the ZEOD is the same as the DeltaWing. And we do have patents, in fact another one was just issued last week. We are in discussions with our legal advisors and we'll see what happens."
Frankly, it's not difficult to see what Panoz means. The general shape of the ZEOD RC, with its wide rear track and narrow front track arrangement - not to mention the headlights mounted over the rear wheel arches and any arrangements not visible under the body - are so reminiscent of the DeltaWing that differences like the shape of its closed cockpit and more upright front end might not prove different enough to avert Panoz's legal action. We'll stay with this one and let you know as more becomes available.