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French investigators will question Carlos Ghosn in Lebanon

BEIRUT — A team of French investigators will come to Beirut next month to participate in interrogating former Renault-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn, a Lebanese justice ministry official said Saturday. The official gave no specific date or details of what information the investigators would seek from Ghosn. Former auto executive Ghosn, who is a Lebanese, Brazilian and French national, fled Japan in a dramatic escape that drew headlines last year, arriving in Lebanon on Dec. 30, 2019. In addition to his trial in Japan, the 66-year-old businessman is facing a number of legal challenges in France, including tax evasion and alleged money laundering, fraud and misuse of company assets while at the helm of the Renault-Nissan alliance. The Lebanese official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said the French investigators would be working alongside their Lebanese counterparts. Information about investigations is secret under French law, and French judicial officials did not respond to requests for comment Saturday on the report. After leading the Japanese automaker Nissan for two decades, Ghosn was arrested in Japan in November 2018 on charges of breach of trust, misusing company assets for personal gains and violating securities laws by not fully disclosing his compensation. He denied wrongdoing and fled Japan while out on bail awaiting trial. He is unlikely to be extradited from Lebanon, where he has been since last year. At least two Ghosn-related investigations were opened in France. One focused on suspicious transactions between Renault and a distributor in Oman, as well as suspected payments for private trips and events paid by Renault-NissanÂ’s Netherlands-based holding company RNBV. Another investigation focused on suspected misuse of company funds for a party for Ghosn at Versailles. The French inquiry aims to determine who is at fault for a string of alleged financial violations between 2009 and 2020. That includes “suspicious financial flows” between Renault and the SBA car dealership in Oman. This aspect of the inquiry is targeting several million euros of travel and other costs paid by the Netherlands-based Renault-Nissan holding RNBV but suspected to have been for GhosnÂ’s personal use. GhosnÂ’s French lawyers have said the payments to SBA were “justified bonuses” for having boosted car sales in the Persian Gulf and denied allegations that the funds benefited Ghosn or his family personally.

To survive in India, a diminished Nissan bets big on a small SUV

NEW DELHI — By any measure, Nissan has had a dreadful run in India. A push to revive its lower-end Datsun brand flopped, sales have slumped 60% over the past five years, and its sole plant in the country is operating way below capacity. But the amount of money and energy that Nissan — battered by scandal and expecting a record $4.5 billion annual operating loss worldwide — will spend to turn its fortunes around in India will hinge on the sales of one vehicle, its new Magnite compact SUV. The SUV may also determine how much heft Nissan will wield as it and alliance partner Renault thrash out their respective roles in the Indian market. Unveiled this month and due to be launched either late this year or early 2021, the Magnite will be Nissan's first new vehicle in India in two years. It's expected to have a 1.0-liter three-cylinder engine with 72 horsepower, and a turbocharged version of that engine making 100 horsepower. It will have features such as an 8-inch touchscreen, cruise control, and a 360-degree camera. Moreover, it will be just one of three Nissan-branded models in the market after two others were pulled in April when tougher emission rules kicked in. "Magnite will buy Nissan a couple of years to figure out a plan for India and the SUV's success will determine whether it invests more or scales down operations," said one source. A second source called the sport-utility vehicle Nissan's "last hope" to revive the brand in India. Japan's No. 2 automaker has, however, no plans to withdraw from India, where it has invested over $800 million, and discussions about strategy are ongoing, the sources said. They were not authorized to speak to media and declined to be identified. The Datsun brand is likely to be phased out as part of a global overhaul, they added. Nissan's only other models in India are three Datsun cars. Nissan said in a statement to Reuters it is committed to the Indian market and has a well-defined strategy for "a sustainable and profitable business". It declined to comment on sales goals for the Magnite.   Who will lead? Nissan's internal plans call for sales of 1,500 to 2,000 Magnites a month, the first source said — which if realized would exceed the average India monthly sales it achieved last business year with seven models. The SUV will be priced "aggressively," the sources said without elaborating.

Recharge Wrap-up: Nissan, Tesla report CO2 savings, rare earth metal recycling simplified

A new process simplifies the recycling of rare earth metals. While the strong magnetic properties of metals like neodymium and dysprosium make them useful in electric vehicles traction motors, there are concerns about their availability and the environmental costs of mining them. Researchers at University of Pennsylvania have developed an easier method to recycle those metals that is less energy intensive and more cost effective. "We have designed a way to separate the two metals by selectively dissolving the neodymium in a solution and leaving behind the dysprosium as a solid," says Justin Bogart, a graduate student working on the project. "This quick and easy method has allowed us to separate equal mixtures of the metals into samples that are 95 percent pure." Now the team is working to improve that level of purity. Read more from University of Pennsylvania. Nissan Leaf drivers in Europe have saved over 55,000 tons of CO2 emissions. Worldwide, the 178,074 Leafs sold account for the prevention of over 293,000 tons of CO2 emissions so far. That equates that to the neutralizing effect of 19 million trees. Besides the positive effects on environmental and noise pollution that switching to electric mobility provides, Nissan also points out that it's good business, too. EVs like the Nissan Leaf and e-NV200 cost about 40 percent less than combustion vehicles to maintain, and the cost of electricity is substantially lower than that of fossil fuels. Additionally, Nissan has published a video of the Leaf touring Bristol to celebrate the greening of European cities with the help of electric vehicles. See the video, and read more from Nissan. Tesla customers have driven a cumulative 1 billion miles. Together, nearly 75,000 Model S drivers have prevented more than 570,000 tons of CO2 emissions worldwide. To put that in perspective, a billion miles is the equivalent of 4,186 trips to the moon, and almost 40,000 trips around the Earth. In the UK, where the Model S is celebrating its one-year anniversary, drivers have already accumulated 6.6 million miles. Tesla is celebrating its milestone with the Next Billion Miles Tour, hosting hands-on events and test drives in 80 cities across North America, Europe and Asia. See the video from Tesla above, visit the One Billion Miles microsite and read more in the press release below.