Car industry mogul Ghosn falls from his pedestal
In Japan Carlos Ghosn, one of the most prominent figures in the automotive industry and chairman of Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi, has been arrested on charges of misusing company assets and under-reporting his pay package vis-à-vis the Japanese stock market. Ghosn's fall is a hard one, observers concur.
Another man with far too much power
The car industry mogul's inglorious departure was predictable, Jornal de Negócios finds:
“The arrest of Carlos Ghosn is the consequence of a practice that has caused so many company scandals in recent years: too much power concentrated in the hands of a single man can only lead to a lack of transparency. ... Ghosn's influence as the manager of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi corporate entity was so great that a potential fusion between the car manufacturers has receded into the distance with his dismissal - as the turmoil on the stock markets (where Renault and Nissan shares have plummeted) clearly shows. ... The question that must be asked now is: how can it be that a single man poses such a threat to three giants of the automotive industry?”
Ghosn owes us a sincere explanation
Le Figaro hopes the manager will explain himself as quickly as possible:
“Carlos Ghosn is one of the most respected business leaders in the world today. Not without reason. After saving Nissan from bankruptcy, over the next two decades he built up the biggest car group in the world in partnership with Renault, bigger than Toyota or Volkswagen. He's also a pioneer of the electric car, which is now becoming the car of the future. This pedestal on which he stands imposes exemplary conduct on 'Emperor Carlos'. ... There can be no excuse for the misconduct he's accused of - if it's true. He must now quickly answer these serious accusations.”
This reeks of intrigue
Car industry experts suspect more than just a simple case of financial misconduct is behind the Nissan chairman's arrest, writes Kommersant:
“The scandal could be driven by the desire to topple Ghosn from his post, says Izvestiya car editor Yevgeni Bagdasarov: 'Ghosn is a titan who sat firmly on his throne. Perhaps some group in top management wants to get rid of him to make room for someone else.' ... [And] the chief editor of Autorevue, Leonid Golovanov says: ... 'I suspect that the real reason for Ghosn's arrest is not these ridiculous amounts of hidden revenues but a deeper lying motive. We don't know the truth yet but it will certainly come out.'”