2011 Nissan Juke Sl on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Ghosn says French ambassador told him: 'Nissan is turning against you'

BEIRUT — Former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn said on Tuesday that the French ambassador had warned him shortly after his arrest that his own company was plotting against him. "Frankly, I was shocked by the arrest, and the first thing I asked is make sure Nissan knows so they can send me a lawyer," Ghosn told Reuters in an interview in Beirut. "And the second day, 24 hours from this, I received a visit from the French ambassador who told me: 'Nissan is turning against you'. And this is where I realized that the whole thing was a plot." Former Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa, who was forced to resign last year after admitting that he had received improper compensation, told a news conference shortly after Ghosn's arrest that Ghosn had been using corporate money for personal purposes and under-reporting his income for years. The arrest of Ghosn, widely respected for rescuing the carmaker from near-bankruptcy, has put Japan's criminal justice system under international scrutiny. Among the practices now under the spotlight are keeping suspects in detention for long periods and excluding defense lawyers from interrogations, which can last eight hours a day. "When he told me that 'two hours or three hours later, after your arrest, Saikawa went in a press conference and made his infamous statement where he said, you know, 'I am horrified, but what I'm learning...'' — so when he told me he made these statements, I said 'Oh my God this is a plot'."   Related: Yamaha warns not to climb into instrument cases after Ghosn arrest   Ghosn, 65, fled Japan last month while awaiting trial on charges of under-reporting earnings, breach of trust and misappropriation of company funds, all of which he denies. The one-time titan of the car industry said the alternative to fleeing would have been to spend the rest of his life languishing in Japan without a fair trial. Ghosn said he had escaped to his childhood home of Lebanon in order to clear his name. He noted that there were conflicting stories about his astonishing escape, but declined to say how he had managed to flee. Tokyo prosecutors said his allegations of a conspiracy were false and that he had failed to justify his acts. The 14-month saga has shaken the global auto industry and jeopardized the Renault-Nissan alliance, of which Ghosn was the mastermind. Japan's Ministry of Justice has said it will try to find a way to bring Ghosn back from Lebanon, even the countries have no extradition treaty.

Recharge Wrap-up: Indianapolis to switch 425 fleet vehicles to EVs, Chevy Corvette provides bat habitats

Indianapolis will deploy 425 battery electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles as part of its municipal fleet by 2016. The fleet will include such cars as the Nissan Leaf, Chevrolet Volt and Ford Fusion Energi. The city will also reduce its overall fleet by 100 vehicles. In all, the revised group - called the "Freedom Fleet" - will save $8.7 million and 2.2 million gallons of gasoline over 10 years. Read more at Hybrid Cars. EVs with longer range would make vehicle-to-home and vehicle-to-grid energy management systems more practical for the US. The idea of using EVs as energy storage for emergencies or times of high grid demand is currently being tested in Japan with Nissan's Leaf-to-Home system. The US is also interested in such capabilities, but the higher average energy use of American households would make larger batteries in EVs ideal for grid storage applications. Read more at Green Car Reports. LG Chem has broken ground on its EV battery plant in Nanjing, China. The factory, when constructed, will have a capacity of producing batteries for 100,000 cars per year according to the Korean company. The plant will supply batteries for Chinese automakers such as SAIC and Qoros. Construction is expected to be finished by the end of 2015 and LG Chem expects revenue of more than $933 million by 2020. Read more in the press release below. General Motors is using adhesive used in the Chevrolet Corvette Stingray to create habitat for threatened bat species. Artificial bat caves could help alleviate white-nose fungus that leads to diminished bat populations. Leftover adhesive is used to create stalactites in the artificial caves, allowing them more structure to hang from. GM has also provided Volt battery covers to create nesting habitats for bats, which eat harmful insects and help pollinate plants. See the videos and read more in the press release below. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. LG Chem officially breaks ground for China EV battery plant Seoul, Korea - Oct 30, 2014 – LG Chem, Korea's leading manufacturer of advanced batteries, held a ground breaking ceremony for the construction of electric-car battery plant in Nanjing, China, to meet growing demand in the world's biggest car market.

Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida rules out closer capital ties with Renault

YOKOHAMA — Nissan is committed to its automaking alliance with Renault but will not look to deepen its capital ties with the French automaker any time soon, its new CEO said on Monday. On his first day in the new position, chief executive Makoto Uchida also pledged to repair profitability at Japan's No. 2 automaker and said setting realistic targets would be key toward that goal, as it tries to make a clean break from the leadership of former chairman Carlos Ghosn. "Closer capital ties with Renault are not a focus in the short term," he told reporters. Uchida became CEO of Nissan on Dec. 1, as the car maker tries to recover from a profit slump and draw a line under a year of turmoil after the Ghosn scandal. The ousted chairman is fighting financial misconduct charges in Japan. One of the new CEO's big tasks is to salvage ties with Renault, which have deteriorated since Ghosn's ouster as chairman of both companies. Renault holds a 43.4% stake in Nissan after it saved the Japanese automaker from financial ruin two decades ago, and has pushed for the two companies to merge. In rejecting a notion of a merger with Renault, Uchida, 53, echoes his predecessor Hiroto Saikawa, who stepped down in September. He added that the alliance must re-think how it can serve all of its three members, which also includes Mitsubishi Motors. "The alliance has to benefit each of its partners in terms of revenue and profit," he said. "We need to re-evaluate what has worked and what hasn't worked in the alliance in the past few years." The CEO called for Nissan to set "challenging but achievable" targets, adding that this and the launch of more new car models and vehicle technologies would be key to its financial recovery. Nissan is bracing for its lowest annual profit in 11 years and has slashed its dividend by 65%. Its struggles come at a time when car companies desperately need scale to keep up with sweeping technological changes like electric vehicles and ride-hailing. "Somewhere along the way we created a culture of setting targets which could not be achieved," Uchida said, adding that this had resulted in a focus on short-term results. "Years of this had led Nissan to its current "difficult situation," he said, using heavy vehicle discounting in the U.S. market as an example of how aggressive sales targets to grow market share had deteriorated the company's brand.