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Carlos Ghosn's lawyer requests bail again after Nissan ex-chairman indicted — again

TOKYO — Japanese prosecutors indicted Carlos Ghosn on Monday on another charge of aggravated breach of trust, a Tokyo court said, the fourth charge against the former Nissan Motor Co Ltd chairman, which his lawyers met immediately with a bail request. The charge came on the day Ghosn's latest detention period was set to expire. Ghosn had been out on bail when authorities arrested him for a fourth time on April 4 on suspicion he enriched himself at a cost of $5 million to the automaker. "We are confident that we have the evidence to successfully prosecute all four cases," an official from the prosecutor's office said at a briefing after the indictment was announced. Ghosn has denied all four of the charges, which include understating his income, and said he is the victim of a boardroom coup. He has accused former colleagues of "backstabbing," describing them as selfish rivals bent on derailing a closer alliance between Nissan and its top shareholder, France's Renault SA. "Carlos Ghosn is innocent of the latest charges brought against him by the Tokyo prosecutors, aided and abetted by certain Nissan conspirators," a Ghosn representative said in a statement. The case has exposed tensions in the Nissan-Renault alliance forged by Ghosn some two decades ago when the French automaker invested in Nissan, then on the brink of bankruptcy — a deal that gave Renault control over its larger partner. Nissan is due to reject a management integration proposal from Renault and will instead call for an equal capital relationship, the Nikkei newspaper said on Monday, citing sources. Ghosn's arrest has also focused a harsh light on Japan's judicial system, which critics refer to as "hostage justice" as defendants who deny their charges are often not granted bail. Under Japanese law, prosecutors are able to hold suspects for up to 22 days without charge and interrogate them without their lawyers present. In accordance with these terms, prosecutors had to indict or release Ghosn by Monday. According to the latest indictment, Ghosn caused a total of $5 million in losses to Nissan from July 2017 through July 2018. During that period, prosecutors allege two separate payments of $5 million were made from the account of a Nissan subsidiary into the account of an overseas dealership. A total of $5 million was subsequently transferred from the dealership's account to another account in which Ghosn had an interest.

Porsche wins the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans

The question going into this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans was whether or not the Porsche 919 Hybrid would be able to combine its qualifying pace with race reliability. After battling neck-and-neck with Audi's R18 for most of the race, the answer is a resounding yes. Not only did Porsche drivers climb the first two spots on the podium, they did so without any major mishaps on track. This win is the first overall trophy for Porsche since 1998. Audi previously won the last five races, and 13 of the last 15. Corvette also returned to the winner's circle, with the No. 64 C7.R taking winning the GTE Pro division. The victory is the first class win for Corvette since 2011. KCMG won the LMP2 class in ninth overall. With 45 minutes to go the No. 98 Aston Martin crashed out of first place in GTE Amateur, giving the class win to SMP Racing's Ferrari and second place to the Patrick Dempsey Racing Porsche 911 RSR. For the full list of official results, click here. The GTE Pro class proved to be just as exciting as the P1 class, with a four-way battle for first after four hours into the race. For most of the race, the battle at the top went back and forth between the two German manufacturers. An tire puncture in the No. 7 Audi gave up the lead to Porsche, and moments later a crash forced the No. 8 into the garage. But a three-minute replacement of the front and rear bodywork kept the Audi in contention. As the race wore into the night, Porsche maintained a slightly faster pace than Audi. Nick Tandy took the lead on Lap 253 early Sunday morning, and car No. 19 never gave up the top position. The win is the first for all three drivers of the No. 19 – Nico Hulkenberg, Earl Bamber, and Nick Tandy. A lap behind in second was the No. 17 Porsche. The Audis fought reliability problems late in the race but still finished third with the No. 7 R18. The GTE Pro class proved to be just as exciting as the P1 class, with a four-way battle for first after four hours into the race. As the Aston Martin cars dropped away, the lone Corvette Racing entry took over, followed by a charging AF Corse team Ferrari 458 Italia. The Corvette and Ferrari continued to trade places in the final hours until gearbox trouble forced the No. 51 Ferrari out of contention. It was eventually passed by the other AF Corse car, No. 71. Nissan experienced all the pain of a first-year effort with its front-wheel-drive GT-R LM Nismo.

Nissan working on bringing bizarro BladeGlider to dealerships?

It's a rare thing for pie-in-the-sky concepts to make production relatively unmolested. Edges are usually softened, mirrors made bigger and wheels shrunken into something that will be less backbreaking and easier to see out of on public roads. And while the essence of many concepts can still find their way into production, the wackier parts found in their concept forms often end up as nothing more than flights of fancy.
That makes news of the strange Nissan BladeGlider being considered for production rather interesting. You'll recall that the BladeGlider Concept debuted in November at the 2013 Tokyo Motor Show, featuring a McLaren-esque three-seat V layout, an electric drivetrain and a narrow front track like the DeltaWing and ZEOD RC. Understandably, perhaps, Nissan has been touting it as "reinventing the performance car." Everything about it screamed "concept."
Now comes word from Car in the UK that the car may actually make it to production. Quoting Nissan vice president Andy Palmer, "It's in our mid-term plan." "Our intention is to do it," he says. Now, Palmer has plenty of sway, but this should hardly be taken as an absolute confirmation that the triangle-shaped car would be coming. It is, however, a very promising sign. Palmer evidently sees the BladeGlider as a way to cajole young people into becoming car enthusiasts, which suggests Nissan might try to make it inexpensive. Alternatively, the BladeGlider could form the basis of a small-volume racecar, but it isn't clear what racing organization would have it.