Author: Green Car Online News

Japanese judge releases former Nissan chairman Ghosn on bail

Carlos Ghosn
In an unusual move in Japan, former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn was released on bail Wednesday after 108 days in jail, according to a report in Automotive News.

Ghosn, who is known as the father of the Nissan Leaf for his work championing the car's production, was arrested in November on charges of allegedly misusing company funds and underreporting his compensation for 10 years.

In Japan, criminal suspects are routinely held without bail, and prosecutors can file new charges against jailed suspects to extend their detention, as they had with Ghosn.

READ MORE: Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn reportedly arrested over financial misdealing

Ghosn maintains his innocence, calling his arrest and imprisonment a “terrible ordeal.”

“I am innocent and totally committed to vigorously defending myself in a fair trial against these meritless and unsubstantiated accusations,” he said in a statement following his release.

He faces 10 years in prison if convicted.

MUST READ: Japanese prosecutors charge former Nissan chairman Ghosn, automaker itself

Ghosn changed lawyers in February and hired Junichiro Hironaka, a Japanese defense attorney who became known as “the Razor” for his success in winning bail and acquittals in high-profile cases. Japan has a conviction rate of more than 99 percent in criminal cases.

Hironaka referred to the Japanese system of holding suspects without bail, and allowing prosecutors extensive interviews without a defense attorney present as “hostage justice,” designed to elicit confessions. He filed a brief with the United Nations human rights office in Geneva claiming that Ghosn's rights were violated while he was in custody.

CHECK OUT: Carlos Ghosn, electric-car proponent and embattled executive, quit as Renault boss

Ghosn, then CEO of Renault, joined Nissan in 1999 when the company was facing bankruptcy, and became its CEO as well in 2001. He is largely responsible for building one of the largest automaking alliances in history between the two companies. Mitsubishi also joined the alliance in 2016.

He was arrested on Nov. 19, after arriving in Japan for a Nissan board meeting. He has since been ousted as chairman of Nissan and Mitsubishi as a result of the allegations, and resigned as CEO of Renault.

Bail was set at $8.9 million (1 billion yen), which Ghosn reportedly paid in cash, and it came with severe conditions, including live video cameras in Ghosn's home, and severe limits on travel, including a ban on leaving Japan. Hironaka said he doesn't expect Ghosn's case to come to trial for several more months—perhaps after the summer.

Audi Q4 e-tron, Honda electrifies Europe, Polestar and tariffs: Today’s Car News

Hispano-Suiza Carmen
Audi reveals its third electric SUV in Geneva. Honda announces plans to electrify its European lineup. A startup automaker with Porsche connections plans to introduce an electric car with even faster charging than Porsche. Plans for Volvo's Polestar brand could be in flux due to trade tariffs. And readers weigh in on a potential name for Ford's upcoming electric SUV in our latest Twitter poll. All this and more on Green Car Reports.

Volvo's Polestar performance brand isn't going to pull the plug on the U.S. due to trade tariffs with China. But it will be affected by them.

After introducing the e-tron quattro SUV later this year, Audi plans to follow up with more electric models, including a variant of the e-tron quattro, and now the cheaper Q4 e-tron, based on Volkswagen's affordable electric-car architecture.

Honda announced plans to “electrify” every model in its European lineup by 2025. It's not clear how many models may plug in, as opposed to being hybrids that run on gas.

The grandson of automotive engineering pioneer Ferdinand Porsche, Anton Piëch, has launched a new automaker in Switzerland, and its first model may be able to charge up to 80 percent in less than five minutes.

In our Twitter poll results from last week, our readers weren't buying any of the historic electrified names we suggested for Ford's new electric SUV.

The founder of historic Spanish luxury-car brand Hispano-Suiza always planned to bring an electric-car to market, and his heirs showed the brand's first EV at the Geneva auto show Tuesday.

Finally, Volvo announced plans to limit the top speed of its future cars to 112 mph in an effort to improve safety. It might save some fuel and emissions, too.

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Mercedes joins forces with BMW to build an electric ecosystem

Mini from BMW and Smart from Mercedes join in Reach Now car sharing program
Making electric cars accessible to more people requires developing an ecosystem that would help drivers charge, and occasionally get to destinations that might not yet be ideal for an electric car—like a long road trip.

To bridge those gaps for buyers of its upcoming EQC and other electric cars to follow, Mercedes-Benz announced last week that it will team up with BMW to provide those services.

DON'T MISS: Poll suggests more Americans might buy an EV—if only they had a place to charge

BMW launched several such services under its X-Now umbrella when it first launched the BMW i3 electric car starting in 2014: Drive Now for car sharing in some European Cities, ReachNow for car sharing and ride hailing in the U.S. (started in 2016), and ChargeNow for charging.

The rival companies have now joined forces to operate those services, with the exclusion of DriveNow, and to expand them.

CHECK OUT: Care by Volvo subscription program proves more popular than expected

They have jointly invested more than $1.1 billion (1 billion euros) into the project, and rebranded the services in all-caps. The project wraps in several existing companies that each brand owned around the world, such as Car2Go in the U.S., Kapten in France, and Beat in Mexico, The services include:

– ReachNow in offers an app that will let BMW and Mercedes electric-car drivers in Seattle and Portland, Oregon, access car-sharing and ride hailing services, and even bike rentals to get to their final destination, for example if they have to charge someplace that is too far to walk in a city. You can even find a bus or trolley.

– ChargeNow is an integrated system to find and pay for available and compatible chargers and operates in 25 countries.

– ParkNow helps users find, reserve, and pay for parking, for example in city garages. Mercedes cites studies showing that 30 percent of urban traffic comes from drivers looking for parking.

– FreeNow includes services like chauffeur-driven ride-sharing in France.

– ShareNow incorporates similar services.

CHECK OUT: Electric car-sharing programs expanding in U.S.

“Ultimately, we want to offer our customers as many options as possible for getting from A to B. In short, this is about driving, riding or being driven,” said Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche, in a statement announcing the joint venture.

In an unrelated survey published by Volvo and the Harris polling organization on Tuesday, 32 percent of respondents said such a manufacturer sponsored car-sharing program would increase the likelihood that they would buy an electric car. Volvo sells a one-year subscription program for its XC40 small SUV that has proven more popular than dealers can accommodate, and has indicated it plans a similar program for its first electric car, the Polestar 2, unveiled on Wednesday.

After four years of effort from BMW, it seems that the confluence of car-sharing programs and electric cars may finally be coming together.

The companies also announced on Thursday that they will also form a partnership to develop self-driving car technology.