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Ousted Renault CEO Bollore raised concerns over Ghosn investigation

PARIS — Renault's former chief executive Thierry Bollore, who was ousted in October, had sought to flag alleged conflicts of interest and governance problems at the company's Japanese alliance partner Nissan before his departure, Le Monde reported on Monday. Citing a letter from Oct. 7 addressed to Nissan's board, of which he was member, France's Le Monde newspaper said Bollore had raised questions over the firm's internal investigation surrounding former alliance boss Carlos Ghosn. Nissan and Renault were left reeling by Ghosn's arrest in Tokyo a year ago, on financial misconduct charges which he denies. They have since tried to reboot their strained partnership by revamping their management teams, including by purging them of Ghosn allies and removing people in top jobs at the time of the scandal. Bollore — who took a step up at the French carmaker when Ghosn left even though he was known for his close ties to the alliance founder — was eventually pushed out as Renault's CEO on Oct. 11, days after penning his letter. In comments sent to Reuters, Nissan spokeswoman Azusa Momose denied there were any irregularities in its internal investigation of Ghosn's affairs, and added that the company had reviewed its processes once again following Bollore's letter. "Nissan's independent directors confirmed that the investigation was properly conducted and could be relied on," Momose said. Nissan directors had discussed all the allegations raised by Bollore and the company "concluded that Bollore's concerns were not founded and were based for the most part on inaccurate information and speculation," she added. Bollore said in the letter that he was particularly concerned by the revelation that Nissan had a list of 80 managers implicated in financial dealings similar to the ones attributed to Ghosn. He also raised issues with the chain of command at Nissan, saying some key board members were sometimes kept in the dark on internal matters. Renault, which is still searching for a permanent replacement for Bollore as CEO, had no immediate comment. As well as changing its CEO, Nissan recently demoted senior vice president Hari Nada — a key whistleblower against Ghosn and whose role was also questioned in Bollore's letter — although its internal investigation had found no evidence against the executive. Related Video:

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.

Ken Block's Gymkhana 8 to feature Dubai Police cars?

Yesterday we showed you the shiny Ford Fiesta that Ken Block will slide, spin, and hoon through the next Gymkhana video. In case the image above isn't clear, that video will drop at midnight EST on February 30th on the Ford Performance YouTube channel. We don't know all the entire premise of the video yet, but this Tweet from the man himself reveals that the video will be set in Dubai. Block is standing on the Fiesta we saw yesterday, and arrayed behind him are a handful of those famous Dubai Police cars you're probably familiar with. The force has a fleet of sportscars and supercars, and the purpose is outreach and goodwill among its citizenry, not necessarily the pursuit of criminals. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. From left to right, we can see a Maserati GranTurismo, Porsche 911, what looks to be a Nissan GT-R obscured by Block's Fiesta, a McLaren (likely a 650S), Ford Mustang, and a Ferrari 599 of some ilk. Will they take part? Maybe Block will try and run from what might be the most horsepower-intensive police fleet in the world. We'll have answers (and a few minutes of pure Block hooniganism) in a few days. Related Video: