Don't Do What Carlos Ghosn Did: Yamaha

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems
don t do what carlos ghosn did yamaha

What’s a motorcycle and snowmobile builder doing talking about fallen Renault/Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn? It isn’t. The headline refers to the other Yamaha, maker of boxes big and small, among other things.

Yamaha Corporation, a company you may remember from music class (or perhaps your high school garage band), has clearly followed the strange and compelling saga of Carlos Ghosn, who escaped from Japanese authorities, at last report, by smuggling himself onto a private jet inside an oversized instrument case. Perhaps even a Yamaha case, as the company seems to be the leading maker of such things.

“We won’t mention the reason, but there have been many tweets about climbing inside large musical instrument cases,” the company tweeted over the weekend. “A warning after any unfortunate accident would be too late, so we ask everyone not to try it.”

Confinement inside any locked case, especially one with tight tolerances and no openings, poses a risk of suffocation, so it’s prudent for Yamaha to issue the warning (knowing all the while that its tweet would go viral). Once upon a time, parents would warn kids not to hide in abandoned refrigerators for the same reason. Those thinks locked once you got in ’em.

Ghosn’s instrument case journey ended well for the former industry titan. Landing in Beirut, Lebanon after switching hired planes in Istanbul, Ghosn’s newfound freedom allowed him to go on the offensive last week against the Japanese judiciary and Nissan executives. The former exec claims Japanese officials and the Nissan hierarchy conspired to oust him from the company on phoney financial charges to avoid closer integration with alliance partner Renault.

Currently, Ghosn and Co. are preparing an onslaught of litigation against his former colleagues. Meanwhile, Japan has issued an arrest warrant for Ghosn and his wife, Carole.

[Source: Reuters] [Image: Frederic Legrand/Shutterstock]

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  • Tele Vision Tele Vision on Jan 15, 2020

    Best 12-string acoustic I've yet played. I couldn't fit in the flight case it came with, though...

  • Lou_BC Lou_BC on Jan 15, 2020

    I recall when "The Deer Hunter" came out. There were deaths due to people playing Russian Roulette. "Monkey see, Monkey do" is a real thing.

  • ToolGuy Here is an interesting graphic, if you're into that sort of thing.
  • ToolGuy Nice website you got there (even the glitches have glitches)
  • Namesakeone Actually, per the IIHS ratings, "Acceptable" is second best, not second worst. The ratings are "Good," "Acceptable," "Marginal" and "Poor."
  • Inside Looking Out "And safety was enhanced generally via new reversing lamps and turn signals fitted as standard equipment."Did not get it, turn signals were optional in 1954?
  • Lorenzo As long as Grenadier is just a name, and it doesn't actually grenade like Chrysler UltraDrive transmissions. Still, how big is the market for grossly overpriced vehicles? A name like INEOS doesn't have the snobbobile cachet yet. The bulk of the auto market is people who need a reliable, economical car to get to work, and they're not going to pay these prices.
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