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Carlos Ghosn's son predicts surprises at ex-Nissan chief's day in court

PARIS — The son of former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn said in an interview published Sunday that people will be surprised when his father, detained since Nov. 19 for allegedly falsifying financial reports, recounts his version of events to a Tokyo court on Tuesday. Anthony Ghosn, 24, told France's Journal du Dimanche that his father — who will remain detained until at least Jan. 11 — will get 10 minutes to talk at the hearing, being held at his own request. "For the first time, he can talk about his version of the allegations against him," Anthony Ghosn said in the interview with the weekly paper Journal du Dimanche. "I think everyone will be rather surprised hearing his version of the story. Until now, we've only heard the accusers." The son has no direct contact with his father, and gets information via lawyers. He said his father, who for decades was a revered figure in the global auto industry, has lost about 10 kilograms (22 pounds) eating three bowls of rice daily, but he reads books and "he resists." Ghosn refuses to cave in, said his son, contending that he would be freed from detention if he admitted guilt to the prosecutor. "But for seven weeks, his decision has been quite clear ... He won't give in," Anthony Ghosn said, adding that he would be wearing prison clothes and handcuffs in court. Countering media portrayals, he insisted his father, a Brazilian-born Frenchman of Lebanese ancestry, is "not obsessed by money." "He always told us that money is but a means to help those you love, but not an end unto itself." Ghosn is charged with underreporting his pay by about 5 billion yen ($44 million) in 2011-2015, and faces a breach of trust allegation. He led Nissan Motor Co. for two decades and helped save the Japanese automaker from near bankruptcy. He remains head of France's Renault car company, which owns 43 percent of Nissan. Another Nissan executive, Greg Kelly, was arrested on suspicion of collaborating with Ghosn on the underreporting of income and was freed Dec. 25 on 70 million yen ($635,600) bail after more than a month in detention.Related Video:

Porsche 911 and Nissan 350Z get smoked by unlikely hero

So a Nissan 350Z Procharger and a current Porsche 911 GT3 drive onto the Autobahn together - stop me if you've heard this one before - and they decide to race. We're not sure how much power the Z is packing, but the stock model topped out at 306 horsepower on the last year of its run in 2009. And if that's a stock GT3 then it will be rocking something like 475 horsepower. So the Z and the GT3 give it a racing go, and just as one of them starts to pull away they're both overtaken by one of the most unlikely dark horses you could imagine. It's a really short video and we won't spoil the surprise, so check it out above. News Source: Woreth V12 via YouTube Nissan Porsche Volkswagen Coupe Hatchback Luxury Racing Vehicles Performance Videos porsche 911 gt3 autobahn

A car writer's year in new vehicles [w/video]

Christmas is only a week away. The New Year is just around the corner. As 2014 draws to a close, I'm not the only one taking stock of the year that's we're almost shut of. Depending on who you are or what you do, the end of the year can bring to mind tax bills, school semesters or scheduling dental appointments. For me, for the last eight or nine years, at least a small part of this transitory time is occupied with recalling the cars I've driven over the preceding 12 months. Since I started writing about and reviewing cars in 2006, I've done an uneven job of tracking every vehicle I've been in, each year. Last year I made a resolution to be better about it, and the result is a spreadsheet with model names, dates, notes and some basic facts and figures. Armed with this basic data and a yen for year-end stories, I figured it would be interesting to parse the figures and quantify my year in cars in a way I'd never done before. The results are, well, they're a little bizarre, honestly. And I think they'll affect how I approach this gig in 2015. {C} My tally for the year is 68 cars, as of this writing. Before the calendar flips to 2015 it'll be as high as 73. Let me give you a tiny bit of background about how automotive journalists typically get cars to test. There are basically two pools of vehicles I drive on a regular basis: media fleet vehicles and those available on "first drive" programs. The latter group is pretty self-explanatory. Journalists are gathered in one location (sometimes local, sometimes far-flung) with a new model(s), there's usually a day of driving, then we report back to you with our impressions. Media fleet vehicles are different. These are distributed to publications and individual journalists far and wide, and the test period goes from a few days to a week or more. Whereas first drives almost always result in a piece of review content, fleet loans only sometimes do. Other times they serve to give context about brands, segments, technology and the like, to editors and writers. So, adding up the loans I've had out of the press fleet and things I've driven at events, my tally for the year is 68 cars, as of this writing. Before the calendar flips to 2015, it'll be as high as 73. At one of the buff books like Car and Driver or Motor Trend, reviewers might rotate through five cars a week, or more. I know that number sounds high, but as best I can tell, it's pretty average for the full-time professionals in this business.