Seven years ago, Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn left a Japanese prison, free on bail of 500 million yen (about US$4.6 million, EUR4.1 million).
Japan's legal system, which has a 99.9% conviction rate - interpret that as you will - said that Ghosn was guilty of financial crimes. Ghosn claimed that he was "the victim of a corporate conspiracy" by Nissan execs who didn't want Renault to have more control of the Renault-Nissan partnership. Once out of jail, Ghosn made a spectacular escape from Japan, hidden in a musical instrument crate! He's now living in Lebanon, which doesn't have an extradition agreement with Japan. Guilty or no, IMO Ghosn played a critical role in developing the market for practical, affordable production EVs. This is even more true in Europe than in the US. In the early 2010s US, the Mitsubishi Imiev and Nissan Leaf were far more affordable EVs than the Tesla Roadster and Model S, both effectively carrying 6-figure price tags. But the Japanese EVs had meager range, and the US is a big place. In those days, Tesla also had prestige and "green cred." So despite higher prices, IMO Tesla deserves more credit for driving the 2010s US EV market forward. However, Europe was a different story. There, price mattered more, and image less, than in the US. Tesla didn't become a significant EU sales force until they (1) introduced affordable models (3 and Y) *and* (2) priced them reasonably in Europe. During that interim, which lasted for about a decade, there weren't many Teslas on EU roads. The Nissan Leaf was a minor but significant EU player. Its cousin the Renault Zoe, introduced in 2012, was an EU-market-leading EV, proving that EVs were practical and affordable. Without Ghosn's early strong commitment to EVs, I don't think that EVs would have advanced nearly as quickly in Europe. With that introduction out of the way - writer Raymond Tribdino looks at Ghosn's legacy for Clean Technica: https://cleantechnica.com/2026/04/25/was-carlos-ghosn-truly-an-ev-visionary/ Shortcut: https://v.gd/2u1C5c David Roden, EVDL moderator & general lackey To reach me, don't reply to this message; I won't get it. Use my offlist address here : http://evdl.org/help/index.html#supt = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = How is the world ruled, and how do wars start? Diplomats tell lies to journalists, and then believe what they read. -- Karl Kraus = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = _______________________________________________ Address messages to [email protected] No other addresses in TO and CC fields HELP: http://www.evdl.org/help/ OT: If you use an Android device, please read https://keepandroidopen.org/
