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Carlos Ghosn scandal: New book lifts the lid on the entire ordeal

A new book details the rise and fall of the ousted Nissan-Renault-Mitsubishi boss – and the scandal that saw him jailed for 130 days before fleeing Japan for the Middle East.


The Carlos Ghosn scandal – the story about the auto executive jailed for 130 days before fleeing Japan hidden in a box on a private jet – has the hallmarks of a Hollywood blockbuster, except every word is true.

Now the rise and fall of one of the automotive industry’s most controversial business leaders has been documented in a detailed book written by the Japan correspondent for Automotive News, Hans Greimel, and veteran business journalist William Sposato, formerly of news agency Reuters and newspaper The Wall Street Journal.

Both reporters covered the Carlos Ghosn story from the front line from day one, and are said to have unearthed elements of the story that have not been reported before.

Car industry books are often boring and mired in business speak, but the Carlos Ghosn scandal is expected to take readers on a wild ride.

Greimel broke numerous exclusive stories on the scandal during his reporting for respected industry journal, Automotive News USA, and now readers will get an insight into the inner workings and behind-the-scenes machinations of Ghosn's downfall.

The book is called Collision Course: Carlos Ghosn and the Culture Wars That Upended an Auto Empire and is published by Harvard Business Review Press.

The book is due to go on sale on 22 June 2021 but pre-orders are open on Amazon in hard copy or digital copies for Kindle. It is unclear whether the book will also be offered on Apple’s digital book platform.

Above: The building in Lebanon where Carlos Ghosn reportedly stayed after his escape from Japan, which does not have an extradition treaty with Lebanon.

In a note published on LinkedIn, Greimel said: “Collision Course chronicles the rise of automotive legend Carlos Ghosn to the pinnacle of the global industry as head of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi auto group – and then, his stunning arrest in Japan, his 130-day jailing in Tokyo and, finally, his even more shocking escape from the country concealed in a box, to restart life as an international fugitive in Lebanon.”

“What forces brought about this stunning fall from grace?” asks Greimel. “That’s just one of the questions we try to answer in Collision Course.”

The book draws from Greimel’s years of reporting on Ghosn, Nissan, and the Japanese auto industry, “as well as from plenty of fresh investigation done by the authors over the past year and a half,” said Greimel.

After a preview of the book, former General Motors and Ford heavyweight, Bob Lutz, wrote: “This book is brilliantly conceived and written. Although factual, it reads like a fast-paced spy novel. The authors have created a dispassionate narrative that will be of lasting value not only to business professionals but also to those devoted to the study of the human sciences.”


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Joshua Dowling

Joshua Dowling has been a motoring journalist for more than 20 years, spending most of that time working for The Sydney Morning Herald (as motoring editor and one of the early members of the Drive team) and News Corp Australia. He joined CarAdvice / Drive in 2018, and has been a World Car of the Year judge for more than 10 years.

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