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How a powerful Nissan insider brought down Carlos Ghosn

Hari Nada   We may never truly know all the corporate skullduggery that went on at Nissan to get former boss Carlos Ghosn arrested and incarcerated in Japan, a country he ultimately fled in a box in what may be the greatest escape caper in corporate history. Nor may we ever truly know which accusations against Ghosn are or are not true. But Bloomberg News thinks it has a pretty good fix on the mastermind of the putsch, a Nissan senior vice president named Hari Nada. Nada, Bloomberg says, is "an insider known for his aggressive tactics and fondness for Marlboros, French cuff shirts and strong cologne." In a 4,600-word investigative piece, Bloomberg dials in on Nada, 56, as having directed other senior executives in a plot to bring down Ghosn, starting a year before his arrest in Tokyo. "The aftermath has been messy," Bloomberg puts it mildly, with Nissan losing billions of dollars, its management in disarray, and the alliance with Renault and Mitsubishi strained to the limits. The fortunes of the three automakers were sent reeling, with the coronavirus pandemic piling on. For his part, Ghosn is living in Lebanon as an international fugitive. Nada's role was basically as chief of staff to Ghosn, a position from which he could see that the chairman intended to strengthen the alliance, bringing the players together in one holding company. Nissan executives have long resisted closer ties and chafed at the company's junior-partner relationship with Renault, though ironically Ghosn's plan would have brought Nissan more of the parity it has always craved. Ghosn also wanted to expand, possibly by a merger with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.  Among Bloomberg's new discoveries: Nada arranged to have Ghosn's corporate email hacked, unbeknownst to key IT personnel or Nissan's CEO. This began months before Nada began working with prosecutors in a secret deal that afforded him immunity. Jose Munoz, a former Nissan exec and ally of Ghosn's, feared arrest — and refused to Tokyo when summoned — after being tipped off by the U.S. and Spanish ambassadors to Japan. Munoz is now chief operating officer at Hyundai. Top Nissan corporate counsel Ravinder Passi says he was retaliated against after raising complaints against Nada to Nissan's board. He says Nissan initiated a police raid of his home, which Bloomberg has on video. Nada purged other executives deemed rivals or disloyal and apparently became quite unpopular.

No one wants to buy Mitsubishi's only US plant

Mitsubishi Motors will very likely close its factory in Normal, IL, later this year after failing to find another company in the auto market to take over its only manufacturing site in the US. "We have given up looking for an automaker to buy the plant, but we are looking for possible buyers from other industries," a Mitsubishi spokesperson told Reuters. Mitsubishi announced plans to leave the site in 2015 to shift its business strategy toward Asia. The factory started as a joint venture with Chrysler in 1988 and was the only plant from a Japanese automaker in the US with a UAW-represented workforce. This was allegedly a sticking point when finding a buyer because other companies in the industry didn't want to take on the union employees' contract. The Normal factory ended assembly of the Outlander Sport in November 2015 and laid off 1,000 workers at that time. The site will continue to make car parts until May, and then Mitsubishi will let go of the remaining 250 employees. The costs of shutting down the factory could be as high as 30 billion yen ($255 million), but a company spokesperson wouldn't confirm that figure to Reuters. Mitsubishi's fortunes seem on the upswing in the US as of late. The company's deliveries jumped 22.8 percent in 2015 to a total of 95,342 vehicles, and the last fiscal year brought the automaker's first operating profit in this region in seven years. Related Video:

Junkyard Gem: 1991 Mitsubishi Mighty Max Super Max

While the Montero SUV sold well enough in the United States, Mitsubishi-badged pickup sales didn't quite measure up to those of their Toyota, Nissan, and Mazda rivals. Second-generation Mighty Maxes are hard to find, so this '91 in Colorado was worthy of inclusion in the Junkyard Gem canon. The ADX Florence Supermax federal prison is just 100 miles to the south of this self-service wrecking yard, but it opened several years after this truck was built. The garish lettering and striping has the look of a dealer-installed option package. Chrysler sold rebadged Mitsubishi pickups for decades, as the Plymouth Arrow and Dodge D-50/Ram 50. When Mitsubishi began selling vehicles under their own brand in the United States in 1982, the Triton pickup got the Mighty Max name. The Dodge Ram 50 always outsold its near-identical Mighty Max twin, but the debut of the all-Detroit Dakota in 1987 cut into Ram 50 sales; by 1995, truck shoppers who wanted a Mitsubishi pickup had no choice but the Mighty Max. After 1996, the Mighty Max was mighty gone. This one is quite solid and doesn't appear to have been wrecked, and the odometer shows a surprisingly low mileage figure for a 26-year-old Japanese pickup. The 2.4-liter 4G54 four-cylinder engine is gone, purchased by a junkyard shopper. This engine family went into everything from the Mitsubishi Galant to the Hyundai Sonata, not to mention the Chery V5. The sunroof has an aftermarket look, which fits with the SUPER MAX dealer-option theory. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Mitsubishi trucks were pitched as cheap, cheap, cheap in the United States.