A Knight rider

LET'S TORQUE

News is that Carlos Ghosn, the president & CEO of Renault, in his capacity as president & CEO of Nissan, has been bestowed with yet another honour "" this time from the British royalty. He has been appointed Honorary Knight Commander of the British Empire.

Which means that he should ideally be called Sir Carlos Ghosn, but since he is not a British citizen, he can attach KBE to his name (hopefully, that should not stop Ghosn's subordinates from calling him "sir").

Now why would the British government "" the real force behind the throne and not Camilla Parked-Jowls, as everyone thinks "" honour Ghosn? If you go by the PR-speak, "the honour is in recognition of Mr Ghosn's distinguished contribution to relations between the UK and Japan." Really? If you read some more into the automotive scene in the UK, you realise that Nissan is the largest manufacturer of cars in that country.

Besides that, Nissan's design centre and technical centre are also in the UK. So to me, by making Ghosn a Knight, the British government, the royalty (and even Camilla perhaps) are ostensibly saying, "Please don't take away all this from here and shift to China or India."

Wishful thinking. The British car industry has never been through such bewildering times. Family jewels like Jaguar and Aston Martin are being tossed around for sale, while the Chinese are treating Rover like it was, well, the four-legged Rover.

The major marques are all in foreign hands and even their only significant tiny carmaker like TVR is in the hands of a skinny Russian lad. Serious. So hopefully, making Ghosn the White Knight of their auto industry may buy the British some more time.

Which makes me wonder, which British Empire are these guys talking about? Empire? You mean the stretch between Hyde Park and Leicester Square? Somebody wake these people up and tell them the Sun Has Set On The You-Know-What.

srini@business-standard.com