Trade News

TOKYO — Nissan's indicted former boss Carlos Ghosn has fled, but the American lieutenant he left behind in Japan — Greg Kelly, accused of being his accomplice — finally heads to court in Tokyo this week in a closely watched case that will bring some measure of closure to the corporate saga.

Kelly's financial misconduct trial begins Tuesday, Sept. 15, the day he turns 64, nearly two years after his November 2018 arrest.

Kelly was released on bail that Christmas but has been required to live in Japan, where he and his lawyers have been plowing through mountains of evidence to prepare for their defense.

Kelly, a human resources manager who climbed Nissan's global executive ladder from its operations in Tennessee, is charged with orchestrating a plan to conceal more than $80 million in deferred remuneration to Ghosn over the 2010-17 fiscal years, resulting in the information not being reported in Nissan's public financial documents. Read more

Unifor wants three-year contracts with the Detroit 3 instead of four-year ones, hoping that negotiating at the same time as the UAW will make it easier to attract major investments to Canada in the future.

"I'm sick and tired of playing catch-up," Unifor President Jerry Dias said.

"When we go into bargaining with the Detroit 3, we're always cognizant of the major investment announcements coming out of UAW bargaining."

Unifor on Tuesday, Sept. 8, selected Ford Motor Co. as its target company, with the aim of patterning contracts with General Motors and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles after whatever deal it reaches with Ford.

The Canadian union represents about 17,000 auto workers under contracts with the Detroit automakers set to expire Monday, Sept. 21.

Unifor's bargaining with the Detroit 3 comes a year after the UAW wrapped up its contentious talks, which included the longest national strike against GM in almost half a century. The relative tim…

This week, Volkswagen expects to emerge from its U.S. court-appointed monitorship under Larry Thompson. When the former deputy FBI director cleans out his office in Wolfsburg, Germany, it will mark the end of the government's involvement in the diesel scandal it helped uncover five years ago.

Automotive News Europe Correspondent Christiaan Hetzner spoke with Hiltrud Werner, the VW Group executive board member responsible for integrity and legal affairs, about whether the carmaker still posed a danger to the public. Here are edited excerpts.

Q: A major objective of the 2025 group strategy is to transform the company into "a model of integrity." Five years after the diesel scandal, how far along are you in reforming a secretive, intransparent corporate culture widely viewed as the underlying cause?

A: Let me start by saying thanks for giving me the opportunity to address this important issue. Secondly, this may seem to be a long period of time, but it isn…

Editor's note: This story is part of the annual Automotive News "Future Product Pipeline" series.

After years of waiting, Volkswagen's first competitive battery-electric vehicle, the Tiguan-size ID4 compact crossover, will make its way to U.S. showrooms beginning late this year and spreading across the dealer network in the first half of 2021.

The ID4 will be followed by other battery-electrics eventually, but other than the ID Buzz microbus, just what shape those electric vehicles will take for U.S. consumers remains undetermined, as Volkswagen continues to distance itself from its diesel emissions scandal.

Elsewhere in its lineup, the German mass-market brand will expand its subcompact crossover offerings this fall with a vehicle that will slot beneath the Tiguan in price. Meanwhile, its legacy lineup of sedans and hatchbacks is likely to shrink further as the brand focuses its resources on the Jetta and Arteon, and only certain performance flavors of…

Hyundai and Kia are recalling more than 180,000 vehicles in the U.S. because of problems with the antilock brake system, which may result in an electrical short and vehicle fire.

The recalled vehicles are 180,000 Hyundai Tucson compact crossovers from the 2019-21 model years and about 9,400 Kia Stingers from the 2019 model year.

The recall notice comes after the two automakers recalled more than 600,000 vehicles last week for a similar issue, where brake fluid may leak into the hydraulic electronic control unit, which could cause an electrical short over time and a vehicle fire. Those recalled vehicles were 2013-15 Kia Optima sedans, 2014-15 Kia Sorento crossovers and 2013-15 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport crossovers.

"The two recalls are for the ABS module but are for different issues," Hyundai spokesman Michael Stewart told Automotive News.

The Tucson recall "is to address a potentially defective circuit board in the ABS brake hydraulic electronic contr…

McLaren Group is considering a sale of its global headquarters as part of a refinancing strategy the company announced earlier this year.

The U.K. supercar maker has also appointed banks to advise on a debt restructuring and equity raise to buttress its balance sheet, it said in a statement Thursday. McLaren's headquarters are in Woking, on the southwestern edge of London.

McLaren has struggled since the coronavirus outbreak. A 300 million-pound ($389 million) equity raise early this year has not been enough to face an almost 70 percent revenue collapse throughout the pandemic.

After achieving global sales approaching 5,000 in 2018 and 2019, McLaren's volume will be significantly lower in 2020 as the automaker grapples with the sales impact of the pandemic, its CEO, Mike Flewitt, has said. He anticipates selling about 2,700 vehicles globally in 2020.

McLaren sought emergency funds over the summer offering its headquarters and historic car collecti…

LONDON -- Tesla Inc. is in discussions with Canadian miner Giga Metals about helping to develop a large mine that would give the electric vehicle maker access to low-carbon nickel for its batteries, three people familiar with the matter said.

Alongside its goal to reduce pollution from driving, Tesla is also striving to reduce its own carbon footprint.

"Tesla will give you a giant contract for a long period of time if you mine nickel efficiently and in an environmentally sensitive way," CEO Elon Musk said in July.

Giga Metals's low-carbon nickel plans include turning waste from its mining operations into cement type rock using carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and using hydropower.

Giga Metals's President Martin Vydra declined to comment on any talks with Tesla, but said: "Giga is actively engaged, and has been for some time, with automakers regarding our ability to produce carbon-neutral nickel.

"The cost of developing our project, excludi…

Nikola Corp., the startup EV maker that this week announced a multibillion-dollar joint venture with General Motors, said on Friday it could take legal action against short-seller Hindenburg Research, which accused the company of being a "fraud" in a scathing report on Thursday.

The company also said it intended to bring the actions of the activist short-seller, together with evidence and documentation, to the attention of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Nikola said it retained corporate litigator Kirkland & Ellis, a national law firm that also represents General Motors. In fact, Kirkland & Ellis represented GM in its recent racketeering lawsuit against Fiat Chrysler Automobiles that was later dismissed by a U.S. District Court judge in Detroit.

“Yesterday, an activist short-seller whose motivation is to manipulate the market and profit from a manufactured decline in our stock price published a so-called “report” replete with mislea…

Join Automotive News Publisher Jason Stein for a daily podcast series about the coronavirus crisis. He’ll speak with industry experts, insiders and Automotive News reporters about how the virus is impacting and reshaping the automotive industry.

AeroMobil CEO Patrick Hessel and adviser Meir Arnon discuss how the Slovakia-based company is planning to bring its two-seat flying car to market.

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Nissan has raised $8 billion in its first nonconvertible dollar bond sale in at least two decades, in one of the biggest-ever deals in Asia.

The company is also selling a 2 billion-euro ($2.4 billion) trio of bonds, after drawing orders more than six times the deal size, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because they’re not authorized to speak about it.

The automaker earlier sold the $8 billion securities in four parts, and may debut a public euro note offering as soon as Friday, according to people familiar with the matter. The fundraising comes after Nissan recorded its biggest loss in about 20 years, and underscores broader strength in global credit markets after a rally sparked by monetary stimulus from March.

It adds to record bond sales in the U.S. currency from Asian issuers this year as companies load up on cash amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Nissan, which allied with Renault Group in 1999 and later took …