A few opinions just to comment: - Probably the 'affordable' term on the Nissan Leaf case was for the consumer, but it was by far unsustainable for the company. It is in fact unsustainable till now for most if not all auto OEMs except for Tesla, since they all still lose money on every EV they sell. Yes, Nissan (with Mr. Ghson in there) did an amazing job of introducing a 'good' EV and when I say amazing job is not because of the car itself (which honestly, they could've done better) but because he was able to convince Nissan shareholders, a bunch of executives, create new supply chains, etc on a super traditional Japanese car culture.
- I say unsustainable because compared to Nissan and almost every other auto OEM they could (and still are) subsidize their EV programs from the ICE ones and if not doing what Ford did by splitting their divisions, you would never be able to tell their monumental losses they have incurred so far since then. - In comparison, this is why Tesla started with a high end/low volume car (the Roadster) to finance a lower price/higher volumes and so on, you know the 'Elon's Master plan' and they are not the only ones really making 'affordable' cars in general, not only EVs, that are some of the safest on the planet to be during a collision, and a bunch of other features that still to date many can only dream of. ...and truly making money on each car they sell and from their software business as well (FSD subscription model). - Finally, I'm not really sure that with Ghosn's commitment to EVs, with just the Leaf or with Mitsubishi's MiEV on the markets at the time, would've caused a big difference at all, these all were mostly compliance cars with limited range and with traditional legacy auto design approach, designed with no customer in mind, no desire to innovate, etc. I won't deny they sure did have an impact on people (including me), but I was not the type of people who needed to be impressed but instead, have moved the needle on a real mass EV adoption like Tesla did. Tesla completely disrupted the auto industry like no others and this happened at the same timeline, so whether Nissan or Mitsubishi had done something or not, Tesla was already on the move with a long term winning superior strategy at the time and with a completely different approach. - My opinion about Mr. Ghosn is great and I applaud his efforts, but similarly to Mr. Diess (VW past CEO), they were/are IMO smart, vocal and super driven pro-EV people, but unfortunately trapped into slow, bureaucratic and anti-EV corporations & unions that have had the minimal intentions to make a change. So my vote goes to Elon instead (yes, despite all of the hate) since he wisely or by luck, chose to start an EV company from scratch, PURELY EV, against all odds and criticism, doing what any CEO hasn't done (sleeping in the factories and attending design engineering meetings on person), risking everything (his wealth) for something that currently it's still unbeatable in terms of tech, safety, etc. by most legacy OEMS and that any CEO would dare to risk or ever do. And of course, except the Chinese EV manufacturers, whose (despite all the bad stuff we hear from them and their govt.) also get my vote for having bet on EVs from the early times, have learnt, improved, copied (you name it) to what are now, with subsidies or not, some of the most advanced and truly affordable EVs you can get in the world today (except the US LoL). Marco On Sat, Apr 25, 2026 at 10:54 AM List Lackey via EV <[email protected]> wrote: > 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/ > -- Marco Gaxiola -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... 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