2002 Infiniti Q45 on 2040-cars

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2014 Infiniti Q50 hits the web early, courtesy of... Infiniti

Well, what do we have here? It seems that Infiniti.ca, the official Canadian website of the Japanese automaker, accidentally published a load of 2014 Q50 images ahead of its official debut at the 2013 Detroit Auto Show.
As you can see in our high-res image gallery of screen shots above, the 2014 Infiniti Q50 carries along in the footsteps of the marque's current curvy design language. There's the requisite pinched chrome grille, upswept headlight clusters, and a hood with multiple flowing ridges, peaks and valleys.
As confusing as the newly Q-infused lineup may be on paper, there's simply no mistaking the new Q50 for anything but an Infiniti. You can expect a whole slew of images, facts, figures and commentary on the new luxury sedan on Monday, but until then, feel free to let us know what you think in the Comments.

Infiniti previews a new... something

Sometimes we get a teaser image and accompanying statement where we can at least surmise what the automaker is up to. This is not one of those times.
The automaker, in this case, is Infiniti, and the teaser image shows only a grille with a similar shape to what you'd find on most of the company's products, albeit with a curvier mesh. Which isn't much to go on, really, and the accompanying statement (which you can read below in its forty-word entirety) doesn't give us much more. All it says is that the vehicle in question - which we'll wager is a concept car instead of a production debut - has "style and substance" embodied in a "vision... on a scale not seen before" from Infiniti.
Given the French peppered into the release and the encroaching chronological proximity of the Paris Motor Show, we'd guess that's where Infiniti will reveal this latest but of inspiration, but just what form it will take is still a mystery.

Japan sends official to Lebanon over fugitive Carlos Ghosn

BEIRUT — Japan's deputy justice minister met top officials in Lebanon on Monday over the case of NissanÂ’s fugitive ex-boss, Carlos Ghosn, who fled to his home country late last year while on bail in Japan and awaiting trial. Ghosn was arrested in late 2018 and is facing charges of under-reporting income and breach of trust. He says he is innocent. He led Nissan for nearly 20 years. State Minister of Justice Hiroyuki Yoshiie (pictured above with Lebanese Justice Minister Marie Claude Najm) met President Michel Aoun as well as the Lebanese minister of foreign affairs. Yoshiie did not speak to reporters after the meetings and is scheduled to hold a news conference later in the day. Aoun's office said in a tweet after the meeting that they discussed mutual relations and ways of developing them "in addition to matters that are of interest for both countries." The tweet did not mention Ghosn, who made his first public appearance in Lebanon in early January saying he fled a “nightmare” that would not end and vowed to defend his name wherever he can get a fair trial. On Friday, Japan's Justice Minister Masako Mori said she was dispatching the official to Beirut to explain the Japanese justice system and improve cooperation. She said Japan hoped Lebanon would gain “a proper understanding of the Japanese criminal justice system.” Japan and Lebanon do not have an extradition treaty, and it's unlikely Lebanon would agree to send Ghosn, considered a Lebanese national hero, back to Japan to face trial. Mori acknowledged that there were “various environments” and laws that underpin each country's stance. Nissan, maker of the Leaf electric car and Z sports car, said in a statement regarding the justice officialÂ’s trip that it hoped Ghosn would return to Japan to stand trial, “so that all the facts can be properly established under JapanÂ’s judicial system.” Having spent months in detention and struggling to gain his release on bail under stringent conditions, Ghosn said he fled in the belief he could not get a fair trial in Japan. Japan has requested GhosnÂ’s return through Interpol and issued an arrest warrant after his escape. Lebanese prosecutors issued a travel ban for Ghosn in January and asked him to hand in his French passport following the Interpol-issued notice against him. NissanÂ’s sales have plunged recently, and it sank into losses for the last fiscal quarter. The brand is widely considered to have been tarnished by the controversy around Ghosn.