- Nissan says Ghosn representatives took documents from Rio apartment – Reuters: Nissan says Ghosn representatives took documents from Rio apartment Reuters UKNissan said on Friday that representatives of ousted chairman Carlos Ghosn had retrieved documents from a disputed corporate apartment in Rio de Janeiro
- Euro 6 diesels could be banned in three European cities – Autocar: European court overrules EU decision to relax nitrogen oxide limits on diesels in Madrid, Paris and Brussels Diesel cars registered before September 2018 can be banned from Madrid, Paris and Brussels, after European justices overturn an EU emissions…
- Renault board did not consider replacing Ghosn: interim chairman – Reuters: Renault’s board did not consider replacing Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn when it met on Thursday, interim chairman Philippe Lagayette said in a statement issued by the carmaker.
- Bosch reveals self-driving shuttle concept ahead of CES debut – Autocar: The Bosch concept knows when it needs cleaning Autonomous shuttle previews German supply firm”s plans for autonomous vehicle infrastructure and operation Automotive supplier Bosch has revealed a self-driving shuttle concept ahead of its debut at…
Archives for 2018
Friday Morning Auto News, Dec 14, 2018
Thursday Morning Auto News, Dec 13, 2018
- UK’s Nissan Brexit letter still too confidential to release two years on – FOI – Reuters: A British government letter to Nissan two years ago offering reassurances about Brexit, which helped secure a major investment from the Japanese carmaker, is still considered too sensitive to release, a Reuters freedom of information request revealed.
- Toyota advances plans to replace Takata airbags in 65,000 vehicles – Automotive News: Toyota said it is advancing by a year plans to replace Takata airbags in about 65,000 Toyota and Lexus vehicles in the United States it had previously replaced.
- Elon Musk, the say anything CEO – Washington Post: The most stunning thing Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in Sunday’s “60 Minutes” interview may have been that “I do not respect the SEC,” pointedly …
- China’s auto sales in 2019 to roughly match 2018: industry association – Reuters: China’s auto sales in 2019 to roughly match 2018: industry association ReutersChina, the world’s biggest car market, expects to sell 28 million vehicles in 2019, roughly level with 2018, its Association of Automobile Manufacturers said on …
Wednesday Morning Auto News, Dec 12, 201
- VW expects new EV platform to give it an edge over rivals – Automotive News: Volkswagen says the MEB platform that will underpin its I.D. electric-vehicle family will be even more scalable than the MQB architecture used for 80 percent of the group’s combustion engine cars.
- Ghosn seen as liability as French president battles elitist image – Automotive News: As Renault’s largest shareholder, the French government might be expected to stand up for Carlos Ghosn as he fights charges in Japan that he underreported tens of millions of dollars.
- Daimler buys €20bn worth of battery cells for electric car onslaught – Autocar: Mercedes-Benz aims to have 130 electrified model variants on sale by 2022, alongside electric vans, buses and trucks Daimler has taken a major step forward in its electrification strategy by ordering “more than 20 billon euros” worth of battery cells…
- Nissan expands Ghosn probe to European affiliates – Automotive News: Nissan plans to widen its probe to investigate possible misconduct at its Alliance joint venture entity with Renault and a host of subsidiaries, people familiar with the matter said, in a move that could trigger more criminal charges after the…
Tuesday Morning Auto News, Dec 11, 2018
- BMW names new head of autonomous driving development – Automotive News: Alejandro Vukotich will replace Elmar Frickenstein, who has been in charge of the department since it was created in May 2016 and who will retire after a three-month handover phase in March.
- Daimler to buy $23 billion of battery cells in EV push – Automotive News: “We set another important milestone for the electrification of our future electric vehicles,” Wilko Stark, who oversees procurement and supplier quality on the board of Mercedes-Benz Cars, said.
- New 992-series Porsche 911: mild hybrid and plug-in hybrid versions detailed – Autocar: Porsche will add both mild hybrid and plug-in hybrid variants of the new 911 during the sports car’s seven-year lifecycle Porsche has futureproofed its new eighth-generation 911 with a series of engineering measures that will allow it to support both…
- Nissan to correct earnings to account for Ghosn’s unreported income – Automotive News: Nissan will file corrected earnings for past years in which Carlos Ghosn, the company’s ousted chairman, allegedly under-reported his compensation by tens of millions of dollars.
Monday Morning Auto News, Dec 10, 2018
After having been away for weeks on the Magical Mystery Plant Tour, Dailykanban resumes its daily Morning Auto News.
- Ghosn, Nissan formally charged in financial misconduct scandal – Reuters: * Prosecutors say Ghosn treated “appropriately” (Updates with Nissan statement, comment from prosecutor)
- Uber said to file confidentially for IPO on Lyft’s heels – Automotive News: Like Lyft, Uber last week submitted its IPO filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission, a person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.
- RPT-FEATURE-Chile drives electric vehicle rollout in Latin America – Reuters: A massive cargo ship docked in the Chilean port of San Antonio at the end of November, carrying it its belly the first 100 electric buses from China that Chileans hope will revolutionize their public transport system.
- How Ghosn’s legal process could play out – Automotive News: Carlos Ghosn and Nissan were indicted in Japan on Monday for understating Ghosn’s income, as Tokyo prosecutors pushed ahead with the criminal investigation that has shaken the global auto industry.
Amid the Ghosn scandal, Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance becomes World’s Largest Automaker in October – by a very thin hair
Maybe this will brighten the otherwise bleak day of deposed Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance Chairman Carlos Ghosn, who still languishes in an inhospitable Tokyo jail: With him still in charge, the Alliance edged-out a similarly scandal-plagued Volkswagen Group, and became World’s Largest Automaker in October. The two are only 55K units apart, and with the counting methodologies increasingly shaky (see below) it is very likely that both the fraught French-Japanese Alliance and the Germans will declare themselves winners when the year is over.
Ghosn scandal, day 2: Toxic perks, and a chart that got me fired
On day two of the Yokohama palace rebellion, Carlos Ghosn and his confidante Greg Kelly are still in jail. No new facts have been revealed, but there is a torrent of leaks. The Kyodo wire (via Japan Times) says that Ghosn used houses owned by Nissan in the Netherlands and three other countries, “without reporting that benefit as part of his income,” bolstering yesterday’s suspicion that the “significant acts of misconduct” come down to simple perks that came with the many jobs of Ghosn. [ There is more … ]
Ghosn behind bars: A rather messy putsch
Today, Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi’s multi-role top executive Carlos Ghosn descended in his private jet into Tokyo’s Haneda airport for a routine visit at Nissan’s headquarters in Yokohama, 20 minutes further south. This time, the reception was less deferential than usual. Ghosn and his close confidante Greg Kelly found themselves behind bars. The two were arrested by Tokyo prosecutors for alleged financial misconduct at Nissan Motor.
Nissan swiftly issued a press release, saying that “based on a whistleblower report,” Nissan had conducted an internal investigation, which came to the conclusion that “over many years both Ghosn and Kelly have been reporting compensation amounts in the Tokyo Stock Exchange securities report that were less than the actual amount, in order to reduce the disclosed amount of Carlos Ghosn’s compensation.”