Fugitive CEO Carlos Ghosn Ordered To Give His Superyacht Back To Nissan, Is Definitely Not Going To

I was all excited this morning to start today’s Morning Dump with a discussion of the two approaches large automakers are taking to China, and I’ll get to that, but my favorite story of the morning is Nissan’s ongoing quest to try to get ex-CEO Carlos Ghosn to give back the superyacht he allegedly bought with misappropriated funds. Good luck, babe!

Ok, China. Let’s talk about China. People love talking about China. There’s an interesting contrast between the Stellantis approach and the Ford approach, and I think it’s worth discussing where each of these major automakers is going. And while we’re talking about the directionality of automakers it’s probably not a bad time to review the latest forecast for where the automotive market here in the United States will end up this year.

Let’s bring it all home and end on a high note. Did you know that International rebranded to Navistar for some nonsense reason? They did. It sucked. Now Navistar is righting a historical wrong.

Carlos Ghosn Has A Yacht He Can’t Take Anywhere

We’re coming up on the sixth anniversary of Carlos Ghosn’s surprise arrest in Tokyo. At the time, Ghosn was head of the Nissan Mitsubishi Renault Alliance and was considered to be the business genius who somehow kept these companies together. That changed rapidly as Ghosn was shut in a small room in a Japanese prison and accused of using front-companies and sweetheart deals with a distributor in the Middle East to shove money into his own shell companies.

Eventually, Ghosn would flee the country in a daring escape that involved him getting ferreted out in a crate. Ghosn, who has Lebanese citizenship and is a hero in the country, retreated to his Beirut mansion (also paid for by Nissan) and has been stuck there. Why? In addition to a request by Japan to extradite him, the French have also put an Interpol “red notice” on him for allegedly defrauding Renault.

Why? One theory is that Ghosn was merely a successful and underpaid leader who was a little creative in trying to get paid, and the real cause of his detention was a concern by Nissan insiders that the exec was going to make the Japanese automaker permanently subservient to its French “partner.” Another theory is that Ghosn knowingly and brazenly perpetrated a multi-year fraudulent campaign to get money out of his companies. All of those things can be true at the same.

That hasn’t stopped Nissan from trying to seize as many assets from Ghosn as possible and to try to hold him accountable, typically in absentia. One of the larger items they want is the Superyacht that was once called Shachou (Japanese for “the boss”) and has since been rebranded “Twig.”

From Automotive News:

Nissan won the first round in its long-brewing boat battle with former chairman Carlos Ghosn about who rightfully owns the indicted fugitive’s superyacht, with a court ruling Ghosn illicitly siphoned millions from the carmaker to buy the 121-foot pleasure cruiser.

Ghosn was ordered to give up the vessel to Nissan Motor Co., while he, his wife and a company they created as a vehicle to purchase the yacht were ordered to pay $32 million in damages, according to the ruling by the British Virgin Islands High Court.

As far as superyachts go this one is almost restrained. Just five bedrooms? No helicopter pad? The yacht itself is owned by Beauty Yachts Pty LTD, a California shell company, which is also owned by Ghosn’s son. Is he giving it back?

It doesn’t sound like it:

“It is in the Court’s respectful judgment clear as a matter of fact that the sums paid away from Nissan/NME [Nissan Middle East] were for purposes other than the proper purposes of Nissan or NME; and the payments to Mr. Ghosn, Beauty Yachts and Shogun were made in order to benefit Mr. Ghosn or his nominees,” High Court Judge Gerhard Wallbank wrote in the 56-page judgment.

Ghosn, 70, who denies any wrongdoing, told Automotive News he was “obviously appealing” the decision. Neither he nor his wife attended the trial or were represented there.

Af current (as of the time of this writing) New York City Mayor Eric Adams famously said: “May your haters be your waiters when you sit down at the superyacht of your success.”

So where, exactly, is the yacht? Can’t the police just seize it as they’ve done with many yachts owned by Russian oligarchs? It’s not that simple. According to MarineTraffic.com the yacht is moored in a popular marina on the north end of Beirut.

If the yacht ended up in Nice, France, I’d assume the local authorities would probably take possession of the vessel. Until then, it’s likely staying put and it’s hard to imagine the Lebanese government turning over either Ghosn or any of his stuff at this point. Not to mention that Lebanon is, as you may have heard, on the verge of war with Israel, which is another complication.

Having a yacht that he can’t take anywhere is pretty indicative of Ghosn’s current position, which is safe-ish but also he can’t do anything or go anywhere. As Radio France reported, this is a small kind of torture for the former world-trotting business leader:

Carlos Ghosn’s main problem is not money but boredom. “He has traveled all his life around the planet. He is used to meeting people, working, having responsibilities, power and he finds himself with almost nothing to do, in a country 80 kilometers wide and 200 long, in which he has not lived since his childhood… His problem is being stuck here, in Lebanon.”

It’s tough out there for CEO’s named Carlos.

Carlos Tavares: Let’s “Try To Be Chinese Ourselves”

Ford and Stellantis have two very different approaches to the problem of China and its ability to produce huge numbers of cheap, reasonably nice electric cars. For Stellantis, it’s “If you can’t beat them, buy them and replicate them.”

From Reuters:

The best way to compete is instead to “try to be Chinese ourselves,” Tavares said at a Reuters Events conference in Munich in May. That belief led Stellantis to purchase a 21% stake in China EV maker Leapmotor last October, creating a joint venture giving Stellantis access to Leapmotor technology and exclusive rights to produce its EVs outside of China.

The challenges faced by Stellantis in the EU and the U.S. are no different than those confronting all automakers as they seek to compete with the Chinese globally. However, Stellantis and a handful of others have taken it a step further, establishing partnerships with Chinese automakers in order to stay competitive.

This seems to be a sensible plan and I think Leapmotor has a real chance at succeeding in Europe, with or without tariffs (which Carlos Tavares, pictured above, calls a “trap”). Unlike the Germans, who were largely caught with their schnitzels out, Tavares appears like the cold realist here. Automakers like Volkswagen have to worry about local governments, but Stellantis has so many local governments to worry about that maybe it doesn’t matter anymore.

Ford’s approach is more “If you can’t join them, beat them.” Ford’s been trying to build a battery plant here in America backed by technology from CATL, the world’s biggest battery maker, but so far the initiative has yielded no batteries and a lot of ill will from Republican lawmakers. This is at the root of Ford’s skunkworks plan to build cheap EVs on its own.

Which approach will win out? I’m not sure, but if Ford can actually deliver a cheap EV I think that’ll ultimately work better in the United States. I think the Stellantis approach might work better for Europe.

Cox Forecasts Sales Of 15.7 Million This Year

I said last December that I thought 2024 could be a huge year for car sales, breaking the 16-million car mark for the first time in a number of years. It looks like it’ll just be a fine year for car sales, as Cox Automotive is projecting a total of 15.7 million new sales for 2024, compared to the 15.5 million sales last year.

What happened? Early in the year, we got that small inflation scare and the expected summer rate cut didn’t happen until this month. With interest rates too high it just wasn’t meant to be. This doesn’t mean that the market can’t turn around and do better, and it’s possible that a calming of geopolitical risk in the Middle East and the resolution of uncertainty around the election might push more people into dealerships, but making up 300,000k cars seems unlikely.

Not great, not terrible.

Navistar Becomes International Again

International is a great brand. First, there’s just the name. The name is great. International! When I think of International I think of happy Scouts and big, brawny trucks. But Traton SE, the Volkswagen-owned truck subsidiary, thought it would be better to stick with the Navistar name as the overarching brand.

Wack.

From the truckmaker:

“After more than 120 years, we are choosing to return to our roots as International,” said Tobias Glitterstam, chief strategy and transformation officer. “International embodies determination, partnership, and collaboration in meeting every challenge with a solution. Our new name and look complement the strategic changes we are making to offer enhanced customer experiences.”

The diamond logo is excellent. Good work Navist… International Motors.

What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD Today

A little Cristopher Cross this morning, because it’s time to go “sailing.”

The Big Question

What would you do with Carlos Ghosn’s yacht?

Top image credit: Depositphotos.com