Carlos Ghosn is the first superstar car executive since Lee Iacocca, the outspoken head of Chrysler in the 1980s. Mr Ghosn - who is ranked this year’s third most respected business leader after Bill Gates and Jack Welch - has achieved cult status in Japan since pushing through a ruthless but highly successful restructuring at Nissan in 1999. He is mobbed by autograph hunters and his own employees on factory visits, and even features in manga comics.

Like Mr Iacocca, the president and CEO of Nissan has also been talked of as a possible president although of Lebanon, where he grew up, rather than of the US. His answer? He is not interested in running for political office “for the time being”, he told Lebanese television. For wanna-be politicos in Lebanon, his interest in the job should be watched carefully: Mr Ghosn is used to getting what he wants.