Ten years ago, an unknown Renault executive stood in front of a packed audience of analysts and reporters at the Tokyo Motor Show and made a declaration that almost no one believed.
Take a glimpse of the near future. Electric vehicles and other types of eco-friendly cars are taking center stage at the 41st Tokyo Motor Show, which runs through November 4.
While the U.S. auto industry celebrates the impact of the government's cash for clunkers program on July sales, two events separated by thousands of miles should give pause to those whose world view extends beyond next week.
The idea of making money from used auto parts conjures up images of thugs in chop shops tearing apart fancy stolen cars. But auto salvage is a perfectly respectable business, and Chicago-based LKQ has turned scavenging into a science. Since 1998 a group of former Waste Management executives have been revolutionizing a mom-and-pop industry by rolling up dozens of scrap yards that turn junkers into usable parts, and convincing insurance companies and body shops that recycled parts are just as good as ones straight from the manufacturer. After the company went public in 2003 the stock returned better than 500% through its peak early last year, landing LKQ (the name stands for Like Kind and Quality) at No. 58 on our 2008 Fastest-Growing Companies list. "Basically, they've got thousands of acres with a bunch of cars lying around," says analyst John R. Henderson of Morgan Keegan. "But there's a lot of money in ripping them apart."
Despite talking a tough line today, Washington seems determined to bail out Detroit, despite the objections of the public (61% opposed it, according to a CNN poll in February). The public is correct. Money diverted to a dying industry is taken away from areas with better prospects.
Given the ongoing state of the economy, hearing about automotive bargains may be cold comfort. But if you are in the position to pick up some new sheet metal, there has never been a better time.
Now that President-elect Obama has suggested that General Motors and the rest of the Detroit Three may need to install new management as a condition of a bailout, the question is: Who will become GM's next CEO?
Not many businessmen can claim the superstar status of Carlos Ghosn. But then not many businessmen are at the helm of not one, but two of the world's biggest car makers.
The whispers that began in January were confirmed Monday: Nissan and Chrysler have agreed to make cars for each other, in a move that will be crucial to each company's success. And that has spurred speculation about even closer cooperation in the future.
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger: That should be the motto for anyone doing PR for a car company these days. Luckily for Carlos Ghosn, president and CEO of Nissan, he has the ultimate spin doctor at his side. Simon Sproule, a Brit based in Japan, traverses the globe ensuring that the world pays proper attention to Nissan's ongoing revival.
Ten years ago, an unknown Renault executive stood in front of a packed audience of analysts and reporters at the Tokyo Motor Show and made a declaration that almost no one believed.
Take a glimpse of the near future. Electric vehicles and other types of eco-friendly cars are taking center stage at the 41st Tokyo Motor Show, which runs through November 4.
While the U.S. auto industry celebrates the impact of the government's cash for clunkers program on July sales, two events separated by thousands of miles should give pause to those whose world view extends beyond next week.
The idea of making money from used auto parts conjures up images of thugs in chop shops tearing apart fancy stolen cars. But auto salvage is a perfectly respectable business, and Chicago-based LKQ has turned scavenging into a science. Since 1998 a group of former Waste Management executives have been revolutionizing a mom-and-pop industry by rolling up dozens of scrap yards that turn junkers into usable parts, and convincing insurance companies and body shops that recycled parts are just as good as ones straight from the manufacturer. After the company went public in 2003 the stock returned better than 500% through its peak early last year, landing LKQ (the name stands for Like Kind and Quality) at No. 58 on our 2008 Fastest-Growing Companies list. "Basically, they've got thousands of acres with a bunch of cars lying around," says analyst John R. Henderson of Morgan Keegan. "But there's a lot of money in ripping them apart."
Despite talking a tough line today, Washington seems determined to bail out Detroit, despite the objections of the public (61% opposed it, according to a CNN poll in February). The public is correct. Money diverted to a dying industry is taken away from areas with better prospects.
Given the ongoing state of the economy, hearing about automotive bargains may be cold comfort. But if you are in the position to pick up some new sheet metal, there has never been a better time.
Now that President-elect Obama has suggested that General Motors and the rest of the Detroit Three may need to install new management as a condition of a bailout, the question is: Who will become GM's next CEO?
Not many businessmen can claim the superstar status of Carlos Ghosn. But then not many businessmen are at the helm of not one, but two of the world's biggest car makers.
The whispers that began in January were confirmed Monday: Nissan and Chrysler have agreed to make cars for each other, in a move that will be crucial to each company's success. And that has spurred speculation about even closer cooperation in the future.
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger: That should be the motto for anyone doing PR for a car company these days. Luckily for Carlos Ghosn, president and CEO of Nissan, he has the ultimate spin doctor at his side. Simon Sproule, a Brit based in Japan, traverses the globe ensuring that the world pays proper attention to Nissan's ongoing revival.
"You can't plan your life, because if you do, it will be too narrow," shouted Carlos Ghosn over the bellowing baritone of a twin-turbo V-6.
For 30 minutes, uber-car guy Bob Lutz held forth before an audience of business journalist on the final press day of Detroit's International Auto Show.
CNN profiles some of the top people in business on "In the Money," which airs Saturday at 1 p.m. ET and Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on CNN. Wine buying 101 • Play video Barilla • Play video Carlos Ghosn • Play video Under Armour • Play video Ice cream company CEO 'dishes' • Play video Cruises and your money • Play video Microsoft roundtable • Play video The rise of Diane Von Furstenberg • Play video J.W. Marriott • Play video
A hush falls over the vast white design studio outside Tokyo. Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn is examining the concept cars that the company plans to unveil in late October at the Tokyo Motor Show, where every automaker's reputation will be on the line.
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger: That should be the motto for anyone doing PR for a car company these days. Luckily for Carlos Ghosn, president and CEO of Nissan, he has the ultimate spin doctor at his side. Simon Sproule, a Brit based in Japan, traverses the globe ensuring that the world pays proper attention to Nissan's ongoing revival. He also likes to pull off stealth PR schemes: In July he quietly entered the not-yet-unveiled 2009 Nissan GTR in Britain's tony Goodwood Festival of Speed. The much-anticipated 450-horsepower fiend rocketed up the hill, to the crowd's astonishment. Given the nomadic nature of his work, he has had only one permanent home in the past seven years (in Laguna Beach, Calif.) and estimates that he spends about 20 days a year there. We chased down Sproule, who has been featured in Japanese GQ twice and in Maquia magazine as one of Japan's most eligible bachelors, to learn how he makes the most of life on the road.
This year, Fortune's list of the highest-paid corporate leaders in Europe reads like a Who's Who of le tout Paris, with French executives taking ten of the 20 top spots, including first and second place. Carlos Ghosn, CEO of French automaker Renault, easily topped the list with $45.5 million (which doesn't include the millions he gets for also running Japan's Nissan, whose principal owner is Renault). That was more than seven times the size of his 2005 package and more than double that of the second-place CEO, Jean-Paul Agon of L'Oréal, with $19.3 million.
A key read on inflation showed core consumer prices meeting expectations, taking stock futures off their lows before the open.
In its 99-year history, no year at General Motors was worse than 2006. It started off with talk of bankruptcy following a $10.6 billion loss for 2005, got worse as GM was forced by shareholder Kirk Kerkorian into alliance negotiations with Renault-Nissan's Carlos Ghosn, and ended with renewed talk that GM soon must relinquish its position as the world's Number One automaker to Toyota.
Is Porsche's Wendelin Wiedeking the next Carlos Ghosn? It certainly is beginning to look that way.
General Motors announced a shocking $10 billion annual loss early in the year, and just so it wouldn't be lonely, Ford and Chrysler came along with their own billion dollar losses later on. Delphi, the bankrupt parts supplier, found some of its former top executives under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission for cooking the books. And Toyota decided the Scion was too popular and put a lid on sales.
Life was already complicated for Carlos Ghosn before last summer. Complicated, but under control.
Carlos Ghosn, president and CEO of Nissan Renault, will touch down in Detroit on Thursday, November 16, to give a speech at the Economic Club.
Mike Jackson, 57, chairman and CEO of AutoNation
That the talks to create an alliance between General Motors and Nissan-Renault have collapsed is not surprising. For the past week, GM has been publicly demanding billions of dollars in compensation from Nissan-Renault to equalize the terms of the deal. And Nissan-Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn has been just as forcefully denouncing the financial demands as absurd and unseemly.
Coming into the auto industry after years of making airplanes, new Ford chief Alan Mulally has a lot to learn about cars and not much time to do it. Business really stinks at Ford, which recently a...
Carlos Ghosn is in his element. The CEO of Renault and Nissan is the host and man-of-the-hour at the party to cap off the first day of the Paris Auto Show.
Carlos Ghosn was expected to tell General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner that GM could save at least $10 billion a year by entering into an alliance with the two automakers Ghosn heads, Renault and Nissan Motor, according to a published report.
The Dow Jones industrial average's closing record is on the line Wednesday, but it could have trouble getting there due to an economic report that showed very weak demand for big ticket items.
General Motors Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner and Carlos Ghosn, the CEO of both Nissan and Renault, are due to meet in Paris this week as the deadline for the companies to decide whether to pursue an alliance grows near.
Carlos Ghosn, chief executive of Renault and Nissan, said he was still eyeing an alliance with a North American partner, according to a newspaper interview released on Sunday.
By coming into the auto industry after years of making airplanes, new Ford chief Alan Mulally has a lot to learn about cars and not much time to do it. Business really stinks at Ford, which recently announced that it's offering buyouts to all its 75,000 UAW members and cutting its North American salaried workforce by one third.
Ghosn's Gamble
Carlos Ghosn circumnavigates the planet in his Gulfstream 550 once a month. He typically spends two weeks in Paris, ten days in Tokyo, and what's left of his time in the U.S. and the rest of the wo...
It's been a dizzying few weeks for General Motors. In late June it announced a better-than-expected response to its buyout program. But June sales were disappointing, and the company launched a new...
Toyota's top execs are discussing putting out feelers to GM in a bid to form an alliance and head off rivals Nissan and Renault, a news report said Sunday.
General Motors, Nissan and Renault said Friday they will work on a confidential review of the potential benefits of an alliance between the three automakers.
There are considerable risks to General Motors and CEO Rick Wagoner after his Friday meeting with Carlos Ghosn, the CEO of both Nissan and Renault, even though Ghosn is now on record saying he doesn't want Wagoner's job.
U.S. stocks appeared ready to open higher, despite a report that showed an unexpected drop in retail sales as well as another intraday record high for oil, which topped $78 a barrel as violence between Hezbollah and Israel escalated.
Carlos Ghosn said Thursday that he doesn't want the top job at General Motors Corp. even if an alliance is struck between GM and Nissan and Renault, his two companies.
Carlos Ghosn circumnavigates the planet in his Gulfstream 550 once a month. He typically spends two weeks in Paris, ten days in Tokyo, and what's left of his time in the U.S. and the rest of the world.
General Motors said Friday it would hold "exploratory discussions" with Renault and Nissan regarding a potential historic combination of three of the world's largest automakers.
Stocks fizzled at Wednesday's open, the recent enthusiasm over cooling inflation struck by a seventh missile test launch by suspected nuclear power North Korea.
Carlos Ghosn, president and CEO of both Nissan and Renault, answers questions from you.
He runs two of the world's biggest car companies, each based on opposite sides of the world, and still manages to find time to be with his wife and children. Just how does Carlos Ghosn fit it all in?
Do you have a question for Carlos Ghosn, the next person to be profiled on Revealed? Do you know something revealing about the personalities we are profiling? E-mail us.
Not many businessmen can claim the superstar status of Carlos Ghosn. But then not many businessmen are in charge of not one, but two of the world's biggest car makers.
Information everywhere. Connectivity at all hours. A smaller world.
It's not enough that Carlos Ghosn is running two global car manufacturers -- Japan's Nissan and France's Renault -- that are thousands of miles apart. Ghosn continues to conjure up new business strategies that disrupt his own company as well as the competition.
It is the holy grail sought by MBA graduates; the mantra of management speak. As a wise and widely-quoted business consultant once put it: "Innovate or die."
IS THERE A NEW LEADER IN FORD'S future? Chairman and CEO Bill Ford, 48, has apparently been doing some soul-searching about his ability to rescue the company that his great-grandfather started. His...
It got a lot harder to join the ranks of the world's largest corporations this year. The cutoff for the list--the revenue needed to be ranked No. 500--rose by a record 15%, to $12.4 billion. That's...
In the dream, they're cheering for him. Hundreds of workers on the factory floor, surrounded by new cars and trucks, all with their fuel doors open. A man glides from one vehicle to the next, openi...
Benjamin's Boardroom wants to hear from you. Email your questions and suggestions about the show to CNN Financial Editor Todd Benjamin.
Rick Wagoner isn't the only chief who has seized control in hopes of rescuing an ailing business. These four men also pushed out underlings and put their own reputations on the line, with varying d...
TOKYO -(Dow Jones)- Nissan Motor Co. (7201.TO), announcing record earnings for its fiscal year ended March 31, disclosed an ambitious new three-year plan that seeks to boost growth while establishing Nissan as one of the world's most financially disciplined car producers.
Formula One leader Fernando Alonso and team boss Flavio Briatore will stay at Renault next year after the team moved to end speculation about their future.
CNN's Financial Editor Todd Benjamin talks to Carlos Ghosn, the man credited with reviving Japanese carmaker. When he took over as chief executive officer in 1999, Nissan was on the verge of bankruptcy. Ghosn has since cut costs, increased sales and returned the company to profitability.
Carlos Ghosn has held jobs on four continents and speaks four languages, though not Japanese. FORTUNE's Alex Taylor asked Ghosn, with new Sony chief Howard Stringer in mind, how he managed as a CEO...
Sony's hiring of a Brit to try and turn the group around may be a shock.
RUNNING A GLOBAL CAR COMPANY ISN'T AN EASY JOB. YOU'VE got to deal with hundreds of suppliers, thousands of employees, millions of customers, and a network of factories that produces tens of millio...
A strong, diverse vehicle lineup will help Nissan Motor Co. continue to increase sales in 2005, although not at the phenomenal pace the company grew last year, Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn says.
When Carlos Ghosn moved to Japan in 1999 to rescue Nissan, a competitor said his mission would be the equivalent of putting $5 billion into a container ship and sinking it into the ocean. In his ne...
Japanese pining for an economic revival have been cheered by the success of Osaka's baseball team, the Hanshin Tigers. For diehard fans, the Tigers are a perennial disappointment. But it is an endu...
Our list of the 12 most powerful business leaders outside the U.S. is made up of seven Europeans, four Asians, and a Middle Easterner. What's missing? There's no one from Africa or Latin America. (...
Is there a vehicle that gets less respect than the minivan? Owners treat it like a people mover--good enough to haul kids and groceries but too downscale for trips to the country club. Manufacturer...
When Nissan's Carlos Ghosn promised in 1999 to resign if he couldn't turn around the troubled automaker, oddsmakers penciled him in for a short stay. But after cutting costs, selling assets, and re...
It was a foggy day in Detroit's northern suburbs, but from his office on the 15th floor of the Chrysler Group's headquarters, CEO Jim Holden could see storm clouds gathering over the auto industry....
During a weeklong tour of Nissan's facilities in North America in mid-November, chief operating officer Carlos Ghosn spent 4 1/2 hours under a hot Arizona sun driving a dozen cars, vans, and pickup...
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