Articles by Stephen Corby

Carlos Ghosn, the disgraced former leader of Nissan who has been languishing in a Japanese jail since November, has begun his fight back with his new lawyer - a man known as 'The Razor' - going on the attack.Junichiro Hironaka, nicknamed The Razor, because of his cutting inquisitorial style, has told the media that the case against his client over alleged financial misconduct, “should have been dealt with as an internal matter” and should never have become a criminal matter, let alone landed his client in jail.Hironaka said Japan itself was being made to look absurd and out of step with international norms by keeping Ghosn in jail.Ghosn has asked to be bailed so that he can leave jail and prepare his defence - against allegations that he under-reported compensation over eight years, to the tune of $US82 million, among other charges - and even offered to wear a GPS ankle bracelet, but his application was denied by Japanese authorities.The court claimed he needed to stay locked up to avoid evidence tampering.Hiring Hironaka is seen as a switch to a more aggressive approach by Ghosn, who has sacked his previous, more media-shy lawyer, Motonari Otsuru.Hironaka, 73, who has a history of winning high-profile criminal cases, said he did not know why Ghosn picked him, but said he probably wanted an experienced criminal lawyer as his case moves towards what will be a keenly watched trial."He is innocent of all the charges," Hironaka said.The former head of the Nissan-Renault-Mitsubishi alliance, Ghosn was long feted as one of the industry’s best and brightest, but he is now fighting a legal system where, on average, just three of every 100 defendants who pleads not guilty is acquitted.He’s also likely to be in jail - an unlikely place for a white-collar criminal yet to be found guilty of anything to find himself in other countries - for some time yet, as it could take up to a year for the trial to come to court. The trial itself is tipped to stretch through much of 2020.Hironaka told a press briefing it was difficult to predict when Ghosn would be released."I have been called the Razor, but it is not a nickname I particularly like. I would rather be known as gentle Hironaka," he said.

Remember 'dieselgate', the scandal over how Volkswagen cheated emissions testing in the US and happily went on poisoning the air, until it got busted and everyone thought it would sink the company but it didn’t?Well it turns out maybe VW wasn’t the only carmaker engaged in that kind of cheating, and Daimler is now being probed by prosecutors in Germany over a similar cover-up.In an announcement that would have been shocking if we hadn’t become inured to this kind of scandal by the exposure of VW’s actions back in 2015, Germany’s transport ministry revealed last year that a whopping 774,000 Mercedes-Benz vehicles in Europe had been found to contain unauthorised “defeat devices”, which had led to higher diesel emissions.The ministry ordered Daimler to recall more than 200,000 cars in Germany alone, and US authorities immediately launched an investigation into Mercedes-Benz vehicles sold there.A defeat device is a particularly nefarious bit of software that German engineers have been using to trick emissions-testing machinery.Basically, it can detect when a car is being driven in a testing facility - on a rolling road, or dynamometer - and then switches itself to a low-emissions mode to get a better score.This defeat mode never actually operates when the car is being driven on public roads, so the CO2 and particulate emissions detected in official tests are far lower than what the car actually pumps into the atmosphere every day.Prosecutors in Stuttgart, where Daimler has its HQ, are now initiating proceedings against the company that could lead to huge fines. The accusation is that the company as a whole may have “neglected its supervisory duties”.The same team of prosecutors has already launched proceedings against Bosch for providing VW with the software the carmaker used to cheat emissions tests.While it is unclear just how big the financial cost for Daimler could be, VW was hit with a fine of 1 billion euros last June for its cheating.And the financial pain for VW might not stop there, either, because one of its very angry former owners is taking the company to Germany’s highest court in an attempt to seek compensation.If he wins, it will set a precedent that could be ruinous for the world’s largest car company.The customer lost his case in a lower court this week, handing VW a win, but his lawyers say they will appeal to the Federal Court of Justice, making it the first dieselgate case to be decided at that level.Altogether, more than 400,000 German diesel customers have participated in a joint legal action against Volkswagen.VW has admitted that a staggering 11 million cars worldwide were fitted with defeat software and has agreed to pay billions of dollars in the US to settle claims from owners and American authorities.Incredibly, however, the company has not yet reached a similar deal in Europe, where it faces billions of euros in claims from investors and customers.

Parking in someone else’s driveway sounds like an unforgivable dick move, but it could be the way of the future in our increasingly crowded cities, with more than 250,000 British residents paying to do exactly that last year.The number of people in the UK renting out their empty driveways, and parking spaces, more than doubled in 2018, according to online parking portal www.yourparkingspace.co.uk, which estimates that people saved an estimated $10.3 million by doing so.The company’s managing director, Harrison Woods, said drivers in the UK were choosing to park on rented driveways in record numbers because it is so much cheaper than traditional paid parking.Driveways in high demand were those near train stations, airport, sports stadia, music venues and anywhere near town and city centres.“Motorists can save almost 50 per cent on average when parking hourly or daily on a rented driveway rather than in traditional pay-and-display car parks or on-street spaces,” Woods added.“Even weekly bookings can save motorists 25 per cent. Rented driveways can be booked on an hourly, daily, weekly or monthly basis, opening up a significant money-saving opportunity for motorists.”On the flip side, if you’ve got a driveway near Sydney Airport and your car spends the day at work with you, it could be a handy little earner.Sure enough, there is already a company set up in Australia to help you do just that; parkhound.com.au allows you to lease your car space, or to book someone else’s.Parkhound claims it has 22,248 members so far and that between them they have earned $18.2m in leasing fees since the company was established in 2013.

You may have heard that 5G networks are going to change the world, creating an "internet of things", but one innovation that's really impressive is the ability to use the technology to connect cars in a way that will prevent up to 68 per cent of all road accidents.

Bugatti has come up with a farewell gift that’s just a little bit more special than a gold watch; a one-off, $25 million Chiron to be named after, and given to, former Volkswagen chairman Ferdinand Piech.According to a report in TheSupercarBlog, the one-of-a-kind hypercar, which will be on the brand’s stand at the Geneva Motor Show next month, has been built for Piech as a very special thank you for his role in bringing VW and Bugatti together, back in 1998.The Piech will no doubt be based on a Chiron and powered by an even more ridiculous version of the engine that is often called his brainchild, the 8.0-litre W16.And let’s face it, anyone who comes up with the idea of jamming two V8s together to form one engine, and sets the ambitious goal of building a road car capable of 300mph (483km/h) deserves some kind of recognition.It has also been speculated that it might look completely different, perhaps a rebodied version of the Chiron, similar to the Bugatti Divo that was shown at Pebble Beach last year.Bugatti will be marking its 110th year of operation at Geneva this year and will also unveil a special-edition 110Ans Bugatti, based on the Chiron Sport.There should be around 20 of those for sale, whereas Piech’s car, notionally valued at $25 million but effectively priceless, will not be, at any price.

Road-safety groups across Europe are pushing for technology that would make it possible for cars to prevent you from exceeding the speed limit, and calling for its inclusion to be mandatory in all new vehicles by 2022.

Sure, if the car you drive is legally yours, selling is fairly simple - you simply list it on Autotrader.com.au and wait to be flooded with buyers, perhaps putting on your slickest suit so you can play at being a car dealer for the weekend.If you owe any money on your car, or it's the subject of some kind of financing arrangement, however, things can get complicated. Selling a financed car involves a juggling act aimed at keeping three parties happy: you, your lender and your buyer.But if you keep a clear head, prepare ahead of time and remain honest with both your customers and your lender, you should be able to sell your financed car without too many horrific headaches.It all comes down to how car loans work. A standard car loan uses the car as a safeguard, in case you can't make repayments. This is known as a secured loan, where the vehicle itself is the security. The idea is that if you can't meet the loan repayments, the lender can repossess the car and sell it to recoup costs.The problem with selling a financed car lies in how secured car loans are organised. The loan is applied to the car, not the buyer. It's the buyer's responsibility to repay the debt but, because the car forms the basis of the secured loan, the outstanding balance will always apply against the car itself. This is called an encumbrance, which sounds like some kind of exotic cucumber, but isn't.Your car may not have money owing against it, even if you borrowed money to fund its purchase in the first place, so you might not be encumbered.For instance, if you have a mortgage and have redrawn against it, the house is the security, not the car. If you bought with a credit card or drew from an unsecured personal loan, the lender can't use your possessions as security, so your vehicle is unencumbered. This means that the loan will apply to you, not your beloved but soon to be departed vehicle.Personal loans and credit cards have higher interest rates than secured loans for this exact reason. Without a large-ticket item to use as security, there's a larger risk the bank won't get its money repaid in full. The larger the bank's perceived risk, the higher the interest rate.There are a few options to sell, but you are obliged to prepare beforehand, as loan-rating service CANSTAR's Justine Davies explains."If you have decided to sell a financed car, you'll need to talk to your bank about how you are going to pay that car loan off," she says."If you're going to pay your car loan out early – which you'll have to do if you are selling your car – then be aware that you'll have to pay some fees."The costs will differ between lenders but there may be an administration fee, a break fee and a cost-recovery fee, so check what these costs will be before you decide to sell."In a lot of cases, you'll need the sale price to go directly to your lender to pay the outstanding balance on your loan."If you don't have the cash to pay it off, you can organise to complete the sale transaction at the offices of your financial institution," Davies says."That way the money from the sale can go straight from the buyer to the bank."In cases where the loan amount is more than the car's value, you can repay the gap between the sale value and the debt yourself. The bank will then lift the encumbrance from the car, leaving the new buyer with a clear title.If you have other lending options available to you, it can be a good idea to remove the car's encumbrance all together before trying to sell. You can redraw against your mortgage, take out an unsecured loan or get a cash advance from your credit account.However, each of these options has a drawback. Unsecured loans and cash advances carry higher interest rates than secured loans, which can leave you handing even more back to the bank. Mortgages can take decades to pay off, meaning that a small redraw today can cost significantly over the life of the mortgage, although home-loan rates are historically low at present.Always be upfront about any money outstanding on the carIf you're selling your car with a mind to upgrading, rather than selling outright, dealers offer a mostly hassle-free way to upgrade. Because dealerships make their money on finance as well as car margins, they'll be only too happy to organise finance to pay out your car's outstanding balance and cover the cost of upgrading.A similar deal applies if you're downsizing to a less expensive car, but finance can be tricky in this regard. If your finance amount is, say, $40,000, a $25,000 car won't be enough security to obtain a secured loan. In this case, you'll need to look to other avenues for finance.If you're trying to sell a car that is encumbered, it shouldn't put buyers off, as long as you're upfront about the situation. A good car, with low kilometres, is still a bargain everybody wants.Honesty is the best approach, as Davies explains. "Always be upfront about any money outstanding on the car," she says."The buyer will most likely do a public search on the car via the Personal Property Securities Register and find out anyway, so it's far better of you tell them first and let them know how you'll be paying that loan off."List your car here on Autotrader.com.au.

Longer, safer, more refined, and it will reach Australian showrooms this year.

In a world in which we no longer drive ourselves, where our cars are more like trains, will we need so many different brands to choose between? Can they all survive, or will the big marques fold into one another, leaving just a few giant players standing?It certainly seems possible when you consider that two titans of the industry, Volkswagen AG and Ford Motor Co. are well on the way to an agreement to join forces to build autonomous cars.Bloomberg has reported that talks between the two companies over the plan, after initially stalling, are now progressing well, with the breakthrough being a possible framework that would allow VW to work with and invest in Argo AI, the Ford-backed self-driving-car start-up.While the talks are high level and private, sources have been leaking the news that the two companies have discussed a valuation for the joint company of $US4 billion.Officially, a VW spokesman told Bloomberg his company is in “constructive talks” with Ford, while a spokeswoman for the American giant said discussions were ongoing and had been productive.The deal would build on an agreement signed between the two in January to build commercial vehicles together. What price an eventual merger?At the very least, a joint venture on autonomous tech between the world’s largest car company and Ford would create a seemingly unbeatable colossus in the race to dominate the self-driving market, dwarfing even Google/Alphabet’s Waymo, and GM’s Cruise unit.Ford CEO Jim Hackett has already said he believes the market will one day be worth $US10 trillion. This really could be the future of everything, and not every company will get there.“There’s not going to be 10 winners in this space when we look back,” Hackett has said. “There’s going to be a few, and we plan on being one of them.”While Ford would bring the self-driving software it has been developing to the table - which would then be equally owned by the two companies - VW will being its electric-vehicle technology to the bargain, creating a formidable combination of IP.“The fact is, nobody can go it alone,” said industry analyst Michelle Krebs.“These are very expensive ventures with tremendous technological challenges. And the business challenge is just as difficult.”

When does a road car with 530kW and 700Nm need more power? When it is a Ferrari, of course.Yes, putting aside logic and quite sensible fears about how much the human body can take, the famously speed-mad Italians have announced they will unveil an even more ridiculous version of the 488 Pista, with a hybrid drivetrain, later this year.The Pista - the already uprated version of the 488 GTB - can hit 200km/h from a standing start in 7.6 seconds, and has a top speed in excess of 340km/h, but the new, truly electrifying version, confirmed by Ferrari CEO Louis Camilleri this week, will shatter even those titanic figures.The as-yet-unnamed hypercar will sit at the very pinnacle of Ferrari’s sports-car range and will feature a 3.9-litre V8 and at least one electric motor, but possibly as many as four (one for each wheel, perhaps, although all-wheel drive is not something their sports cars usually offer).The car, to be unveiled at a special event later this year rather than the Geneva Motor Show, will begin deliveries to customers (who have clearly gone bonkers) in early 2020, and it will be part of the company’s “regular lifecycle”, according to Camilleri, meaning it is no one-off, or special-edition model.It will be the company’s second go at using hybridisation, a technique it has been perfecting at its Formula One team through the use of KERS, after the V12 La Ferrari, released back in 2013.While hybrid tech might still be a novelty at Ferrari, it is very much the future, Camilleri explained, confirming in an earnings call with industry analysts that a whopping 60 per cent of its product portfolio will offer hybrid variants by 2022.In even more shocking news, the world’s most operatic and shouty car company will also offer a full-electric, and thus silent, Ferrari some time after 2022, Camilleri confirmed.You can bet there’ll be a hybrid version of the upcoming Puronsangue SUV, which was announced last September. Camilleri said the reaction to Ferrari building an SUV has been very positive."It is a segment that's clearly growing," he said. "A lot of our customers would love to have a Purosangue to use on a daily basis."