Carlos Ghosn - Popular Culture

Popular Culture

Ghosn stars in the 2011 documentary Revenge of the Electric Car which follows four men in their quest to build electric cars.

Ghosn's life story was turned into a superhero comic book series in Japan, titled The True Story of Carlos Ghosn (カルロス・ゴーン物語―企業再生の答がここにある!!). It was first serialized in the 2002-01-18 issue of Big Comic Superior. The 7-chapter stories were later published as a separate book in 2002-04 by Shogakukan. The book was written by Yoko Togashi, and illustrated by Takanobu Toda.

Ghosn also has Japanese "bento box" named after him on the menus at some Tokyo restaurants. Bento boxes are popular with businessmen, students and others who want a quick lunch. The Financial Times called the "Carlos Ghosn Bento" a "measure of the extraordinary rise of Mr. Ghosn in Japan that he should be deemed worthy enough to eat. The Japanese take their food seriously and do not welcome foreign intrusions. As such, the 'Ghosn bento' could be seen as a Japanese way of bestowing acceptance upon him."

Ghosn wrote a best-selling business book called "Shift: Inside Nissan's Historic Revival." He was the subject of another business book called "Turnaround: How Carlos Ghosn Rescued Nissan" by David Magee. He also provided strategic business commentary and on-the-job lessons to aspiring managers in a book called "The Ghosn Factor: 24 Inspiring Lessons From Carlos Ghosn, the Most Successful Transnational CEO" by Miguel Rivas-Micoud.

Because of his appearances at auto shows and in the media, Ghosn has become closely identified with two car models in particular—the Nissan Leaf and the Nissan GT-R. The zero-emission Leaf, which Nissan began delivering in late 2010 in the United States and Japan, is the world's first mass-produced electric vehicle. Ghosn authorized more than $5 billion to bring the Leaf (and numerous derivative electric cars based on the Leaf's architecture) to market—a gamble that prompted Business Week to ask whether he was "crazy." The twin-turbo V-6 GT-R, which debuted in 2008, is a $70,000 four-seater sports car. The most affordable "supercar" worldwide has also been dubbed "Ghosn's dream car" because he was considered the biggest champion of the GT-R's development inside of Nissan.

Ghosn is a frequent subject of university thesis papers and essays among business students. Cyberessays has a section dedicated to papers about Ghosn's corporate leadership. One of the more commonly cited thesis papers was written by Koji Nakae of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, whose June 2005 master's thesis compared Ghosn to US General Douglas MacArthur in restructuring Japanese society after World War II.