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Carlos Ghosn's new lawyer, 'the Razor,' starts slashing

TOKYO — Carlos Ghosn's new lawyer took aim at Nissan, prosecutors and courts on Wednesday, dismissing the charges against the ousted chairman as an internal company matter and saying Japan was out of step with international norms by keeping his client in jail. "This should have been dealt with as an internal matter," Junichiro Hironaka, nicknamed the Razor, said at his first press briefing. Ghosn, who was arrested in November over alleged financial misconduct and remains in detention in a Tokyo jail, picked a new team last week with long-time defense attorney Hironaka as a key member to replace Motonari Otsuru, a lawyer who once ran the prosecutor's office investigating him. Hironaka's combative style contrasts with the low-key approach adopted by media-shy Otsuru. Ghosn's switch to an aggressive legal strategy came after his attempts to win bail failed and just before lawyers were due to sit down with prosecutors and judges for the first time to hash out a schedule for pre-trial discovery meetings, where prosecutors will reveal evidence and submit a list of witnesses. Hironaka said he didn't know why Ghosn picked him, but added that Ghosn probably wanted an experienced criminal lawyer as the case moved toward trial. The 73-year-old defense attorney is reputed for winning high profile cases, including the acquittal of a senior lawmaker, Ichiro Ozawa, on financial misconduct charges. He also helped free a senior bureaucrat Atsuko Muraki who was jailed for four months on corruption charges fabricated by prosecutors. Yet, even with greater legal firepower the former Nissan Motor Co boss faces a criminal justice system where only three out of every 100 defendants pleading not guilty are acquitted. Neither does Japan have a plea-deal mechanism that would allow Ghosn to agree to lesser charges for a lighter sentence. "The change in lawyers means a change in style, but the legal strategy will still be the same. I don't think it increases Ghosn's chance of an acquittal," said Masashi Akita, a defense lawyer at Shin-Yu Law Office in Osaka, ahead of Wednesday's comments by Hironaka. Ghosn has lost his perch atop an automotive alliance trio of French carmaker Renault SA and Japanese automakers Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. Attempts to win bail, including an offer to wear a GPS ankle bracelet and hire security guards to stop him trying to tamper with evidence, failed.

Europe on track to buy more PHEVs than hybrids by 2019

LMC Automotive, formerly the forecasting division of J.D. Power & Associates, predicts that plug-in hybrids will sell better than conventional hybrids by 2019. By 2021, it envisions PHEV sales at 600,000 units yearly compared to 325,000 standard hybrid sales, and by 2024 PHEV sales are expected to account for 1.2 million sales every year. Part of LMC's prediction is based on a few factors, such as that it believes "electric-only operation will come to be seen as a true luxury characteristic and will be prized sufficiently to command significant premiums." Certain PHEVs are helped in countries like the UK and The Netherlands by generous incentives or other perks, like avoiding inner London's congestion charge, that allow them to address their price differences compared to standard offerings. And the number of PHEVs on the market will soon eclipse regular hybrids, coming from makers across the spectrum. Volvo has twice recently, and only belatedly, learned of the popularity of PHEVs: in 2013 it had to triple production of the V60 PHEV, and just this month it said demand for its XC90 PHEV is four times expectations. The Porsche Panamera E-Hybrid is outselling the traditional hybrid Panamera by more than seven-to-one. And then there's Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, Europe's best-selling PHEV with 19,855 units, a volume more than three times larger than the second-best seller. Although LMC sees hybrid growth slowing, they're still doing well. Toyota and Lexus build the top-five selling traditional hybrids in Europe, combining for 72 percent of European sales, with the new Auris and Yaris hybrids alone selling 123,506 units in 2014. For LMC's forecast to come true, Europe will need a spectacular change in buying habits, since the top ten conventional hybrids tallied 175,847 sales in 2014, and the top ten PHEVs rang up 36,138 sales. Featured Gallery 2015 Volvo XC90 T8 View 14 Photos News Source: Automotive News - sub. req. Green Mitsubishi Toyota Volvo Hybrid ev sales hybrid sales toyota auris hybrid toyota yaris hybrid

Masuko to step down as Mitsubishi Motors CEO, Kato to succeed him

TOKYO — Mitsubishi Motors Corp said on Friday that Osamu Masuko will step down as its chief executive on June 21 and be replaced by Takao Kato, who is president of its operations in Indonesia. Masuko will retain his role as chairman of the board, Mitsubishi Motors said in a statement, adding that Masuko and Kato will hold a press conference on May 20 to discuss the changes. Japan's sixth-largest automaker, in which Nissan Motor Co holds a controlling stake, said this month it expects profit to fall to 90.0 billion yen ($821 million) in the year to March as it navigates slowing demand for cars, global trade frictions and the need to develop new technologies. Mitsubishi's partners Nissan and France's Renault are meanwhile grappling with the fallout from the arrest of Carlos Ghosn, the group's former chairman, who is facing charges of financial misconduct in Japan. Ghosn has denied all charges against him. Reporting by Stanley White.