Tokyo

Nissan Board members voted unanimously to sack Carlos Ghosn as chairman on Thursday, a spectacular fall from grace for the once-revered boss whose arrest for financial misconduct stunned the car industry.

Ghosn stands accused of under-reporting his income and a host of other financial irregularities, alleged after a months-long internal Nissan probe following a whistleblower report.

His ouster as chairman represents an astonishing turnaround for the titan of the auto sector who revived the brand and forged an alliance with Renault and Mitsubishi, which sold a combined 10.6 million cars last year more than any other firm.

It also throws the future of the alliance into doubt, as Ghosn was the architect of the fractious tie-up which employs 450,000 people globally and the glue holding it together.