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Now Mitsubishi Motors has ousted Carlos Ghosn, days after Nissan firing

TOKYO — Mitsubishi Motors said on Monday its board removed Carlos Ghosn from his role as chairman, following his arrest and ouster from alliance partner Nissan last week for alleged financial misconduct. Ghosn's sacking in a unanimous board vote marks the end of his chairmanship of Japanese automakers, just two years after he was praised for bringing a steadying hand to Mitsubishi Motors following a cheating scandal in 2016. CEO Osamu Masuko will become temporary chairman, the automaker said. "Ghosn has lost the confidence of Nissan" and it is "difficult for him to fulfill his duties," spurring the dismissal, Mitsubishi Motors said in a statement. Nissan holds a controlling 34 percent stake in Mitsubishi Motors and has two executives on the board. The move comes amid discontent over French partner Renault SA's role in the 19-year Franco-Japanese alliance of which Ghosn was the driving force. Sealed in 1999 when Nissan was rescued from near-bankruptcy, it was enlarged in 2016 to include Mitsubishi and enabled the members to jointly develop products and control costs. The alliance vies with Volkswagen AG and Toyota for the ranking of the world's biggest automaker. Even as Nissan has recovered and grown rapidly, it remains a junior partner in the shareholding structure. Renault owns 43 percent of Nissan and the Japanese automaker holds a 15 percent non-voting stake in the French firm. And Nissan is almost 60 percent bigger than Renault by sales. Top alliance executives are meeting this week in Amsterdam, aiming to shield their joint operations from the fallout of Ghosn's arrest as a power struggle between Nissan and Renault looms. Renault has refrained from firing him as chairman and CEO. Mitsubishi Motors already had plans to discuss its position in the alliance with Ghosn and, following the ouster, it needs to consider focusing on regions and technology where it can retain competitiveness, CEO Masuko told reporters after the board meeting. Cooperation among alliance members is needed amid the rise of new technology like automated and internet-connected vehicles, he said. Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa told staff on Monday that power was too concentrated with Ghosn and that in future better communication between alliance board members and executives would help preserve independence and generate synergies among the automakers, a Nissan spokesman said.

Junkyard Gem: 1999 Mitsubishi Galant GTZ-V6

The Mitsubishi Galant first appeared on American streets as the 1971 Dodge Colt and then a bit later with Dodge Challenger and Plymouth Sapporo badges. Mitsubishi Motors finally began selling Galants from its own U.S. showrooms for the 1985 model year, and Galant sales continued here through four more generations before getting the axe in 2012. We saw some interesting and/or quick Galants along the way, including the Sigma, VR-4, GS-X and Ralliart; today's Junkyard Gem is a rare example of the sporty eighth-generation Galant GTZ sedan, found in a North Carolina self-service wrecking yard recently. The final year for the hot-rod all-wheel-drive VR-4 and GS-X Galants in the United States was 1992. By 1998, there were just three levels of new Galant here, all with 141-horse four-cylinder engines driving the front wheels. Then the 1999 model year arrived, and so did the 6G72 V6 engine under Galant hoods. This SOHC (yet still 24-valve) engine was rated at 161 horsepower and 205 pound-feet. It was available in the U.S.-market ES-V6, GTZ-V6 and LS-V6 Galants for the '99. The GTZ was sporty-looking, but not as loaded with luxury features as the LS. 1999 was the first model year for the eighth-generation Galant in North America, and it had finally become big and powerful enough to be considered a genuine rival for the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord (both of which had been available with V6 power for quite a few years). The 1999 Galant got a grille that resembled the one on its upscale Diamante big brother, which had five years to live at the time. The MSRP for this car was $24,300, which comes to about $46,374 in 2024 dollars. The base 1999 Galant DE started at just $16,999, or $32,441 in today's money. Those prices were in the ballpark with the Galant's Camry and Accord rivals; the Camry LE V6 with automatic started at $22,748 ($43,412 now) with automatic transmission, while the Accord LX V6 with automatic was $21,700 ($41,412 today). Both those cars had a lot more power than the Mitsubishi, though: 194 horsepower for the Toyota and 200 for the Honda. The 1999 Galant sold in the United States was not available with a manual transmission, which made the El Cheapo DE trim level a steal compared to the cost of two-pedal base Accords and Camrys. The Galant DE even came with air conditioning at no extra cost. The factory wing on the GT-Z is serious. Collectible today? Hardly, but an interesting bit of automotive history. This content is hosted by a third party.

10 automakers shack up in Detroit hotel to talk Takata airbags

Since Takata has decided not to take the lead concerning potential issues with its airbag inflators, the automakers have. Perhaps that's unsurprising, since it's the automakers, not Takata, that will take a beating on the dealership floor if consumers decide its models are a health hazards. The Detroit News reports that Toyota, Honda, General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, Mazda, BMW, Nissan, Mitsubishi and Subaru met in a hotel conference room near the Detroit Metropolitan Airport last week to sort out a way to understand the technical issues involved. So far, faulty airbag inflators have been ruled the cause of five deaths and 50 injuries around the world, but neither Takata nor investigators understands exactly why the inflators are malfunctioning. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently asked Takata to issue a national recall, Takata declined, citing a minuscule failure rate and the fact that it's still investigating the issue. Toyota and Honda then made an industry-wide appeal for "a coordinated, comprehensive testing program" that would pinpoint the problem inflators and get them replaced, and that's what the Detroit meeting was about. Numerous issues, however, will make this a long row to hoe: simply getting the parts to replace the nearly 20 million inflators in cars recalled around the world so far - even working with other suppliers - will take a years, but more importantly, no one knows if the replacement inflators currently being installed will suffer the same issue. Answers will hopefully come quickly with Takata, the ten automakers and NHTSA all independently investigating the problem.