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Carlos Ghosn changes to hotshot attorney and a new defense strategy

TOKYO — Carlos Ghosn's chief defense attorney Motonari Otsuru resigned and was replaced by a team that includes hotshot lawyer Junichiro Hironaka, in a change of strategy from the ousted Nissan Motor chairman three months after his arrest. Ghosn, Nissan's one-time savior, has been held in detention since his Nov. 19 arrest. He's been indicted and accused of under-reporting his salary and breach of trust. He has denied the charges. The once-feted auto executive hired Hiroshi Kawatsu as head of a new defense team, his office said on Wednesday. Hironaka, 73, has won several high profile cases, helping acquit senior lawmaker Ichiro Ozawa and senior bureaucrat Atsuko Muraki. Hiring Hironaka would mean a more aggressive legal strategy, said Nobuo Gohara, a former prosecutor. Otsuru previously led the special prosecutors' office that is now handling Ghosn's case. "Otsuru was miscast. He worked at the heart of the special prosecutors office so he was not someone who was going to go after them aggressively," Gohara said. "Hironaka is an experienced defense lawyer who has won a number of cases. He will mount a more thorough and aggressive defense." Otsuru's office confirmed his resignation in a statement, but gave no reason for the move. A second member of Ghosn's defense team, Masato Oshikubo, had quit, it said. Go Kondo, Ghosn's third defense lawyer, was unavailable for comment. Ghosn released a short statement thanking Otsuru for his team's "tireless and diligent work," and called him a "very capable and intelligent man and lawyer." The sudden change in attorneys comes ahead of the expected start of informal meetings with prosecutors and judges to discuss pretrial preparations, an indication that there will be no new charges against Ghosn. "As we begin the trial phase, I have decided to engage Hironaka-sensei as my legal counsel," Ghosn said, using an honorific suffix. "I look forward to defending myself vigorously, and this represents the beginning of the process of not only establishing my innocence but also shedding light on the circumstances that led to my unjust detention." Ghosn, 64, told the Nikkei newspaper last month that Nissan executives opposed to his plans for closer ties with automaking partner Renault SA had plotted to remove him. Ghosn was widely credited with rescuing Nissan from near-bankruptcy after he was brought over to Japan in 1999 by Renault after the French automaker bought a chunk of Nissan.

Mitsubishi considering a small pickup for the United States

Mitsubishi hasn’t sold a pickup truck in the United States since the Mighty Max in the late 1990s, but there is mounting evidence that the brandÂ’s dry spell may end. At a recent vehicle launch, Carson Grover, the brandÂ’s director for product planning, said the company is considering a new pickup for the U.S. market but acknowledged the challenges involved with doing so. Reported by The Drive, Grover said pickup trucks were “another one of those things we want to try to figure out.” The problem with those ambitions is the Chicken Tax, a heavy 25% tariff on imported trucks. That insane percentage is why Toyota and Nissan build trucks here, and itÂ’s why we donÂ’t see cool foreign-market trucks like the Volkswagen Amarok. Mitsubishi will need a partner if it plans to bring a truck here, which it conveniently has in its Alliance partner, Nissan. The Frontier could form the basis for a Mitsu pickup, but GroverÂ’s comments suggest the automaker could have other plans. “The Ford Ranger, the old ranger, that was much smaller, had so much volume and was around so long.” He went to namedrop the Ford Maverick as well, which he said fills the small, affordable gap that the Ranger used to occupy. As The Drive pointed out, it might be possible for Mitsubishi to repurpose the existing Rogue platform for a small pickup, but Grover was careful to note that the company isnÂ’t making any announcements on the subject. As is the case with the vast majority of requests for comment on future product, Grover declined to elaborate but did say the company has taken notice of other trucksÂ’ popularity. A new American-market truck could further revitalize the Mitsubishi brand in North America. The automaker recently revived another of its iconic nameplates in late 2022 with Ralliart versions of all its vehicles. MitsubishiÂ’s motorsports arm made a name for itself in the World Rally Championship starting in the late 1980s, and some of the coolest cars to wear the brandÂ’s badge have also been stamped with the Ralliart name. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Automakers want to stop the EPA's fuel economy rules change, and why that's a shortsighted move

With a Trump Administration looming, the EPA moved quickly after the election to propose finalizing future fuel economy rules last week. The auto industry doesn't like that (surprise), and has started making moves to stop the EPA. Ford CEO Mark Fields said he wanted to lobby Trump to lower the standards, and now the Auto Alliance, a manufacturer group, is saying it will join the fight against cleaner cars. The Alliance represents 12 automakers: BMW, Fiat Chrysler, Ford, GM, Jaguar Land Rover, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi, Porsche, Toyota, VW, and Volvo. Gloria Bergquist, a spokesperson for the Alliance, told Automotive News that the "EPA's sudden and controversial move to propose auto regulations eight months early - even after Congress warned agencies about taking such steps while political appointees were packing their bags - calls out for congressional action to pause this rulemaking until a thoughtful policy review can occur." The EPA was going to consider public comments through April 2017, but then said it would move the deadline to the end of December. That means that it can finalize the rules before President Obama leaves office. The director of public affairs for the Consumer Federation of America, Jack Gillis, said on a conference call with reporters last week when the EPA originally announced its decision that it is unlikely that President Trump will be able to roll back these changes. Gillis also said on the same call that any attempt by the automakers to prevent these changes would be history repeating itself. "These are the same companies that fought airbags, and now promoting the fact that every car has multiple airbags," he said. "These are the same companies that fought the crash-test program, and now are promoting the crash-test ratings published by the government. So, it's clear that they're misperceiving the needs of the American consumer." There are more reasons the Allliance's pushback is flawed. Carol Lee Rawn, the transportation program director for Ceres, said on that call that the automotive industry is a global one, and many automakers are moving to global platforms to help them meet strict fuel economy rules around the world.