Leader

Leader is an organisation bent on becoming the number one car-manufacturer in the world. How this target is achieved is irrelevant and its practices have involved extortion, violence and even murder.

History
When we first meet the company and it's ominous L-shaped logo it is because Chuck Danver, an American pilot is planning to break the sound barrier in a car he built himself. On a trip back home he is guided by two mysterious motorists to a waiting black car. Inside The Leader, in charge of the company with the same name, proposes to him that instead of breaking the barrier in his own car, he uses a car his company has designed: the World Leader. The Leader surmises that having a Leader-built car break the sound barrier first will improve the sales of his models tremendously. The main problem with this plan, is that his own car is three weeks behind of construction time when compared to Chuck's car. When subtle talk doesn't have the desired effect, Leader then resorts to violence to get what he wants, almost breaking Chuck's leg. This makes sure Chuck isn't able to work on the car himself, giving Leader the time it needs to catch up. This scheme is eventually stopped by Steve Warson, who came to the aid of his friend, together with Michel Vaillant. This event triggered a personal vendetta between The Leader (and by extension Leader) and Team Vaillante, which is still on-going.

Fields of Expertise
While Vaillante has focused itself on creating cars and several racing machines, Leader pursues a lot of different fields. These include:
 * Aeronautics
 * Transportation
 * Military designs
 * Nautical designs

Corporate Structure
The company is led by a cabal of Tibetan monks, with whom the CEO of Leader has to deal. The monks decide whether or not funds will be released for car designs and so forth. If a CEO is deemed incapable of furthering Leader's goals, they will not hesitate to get rid of him, her or a factor that they deem a disturbance. The CEO of Leader handles day-to-day operation. These CEO's have been:
 * The Leader (name unknown)
 * Steve Warson
 * The Monk
 * Ruth Randson

Assets
Leader has considerable assets to its disposal. Right from the start we find out that no expense is spared to achieve the goal of becoming the #1 car manufacturer in the world. After The World Leader crashes while trying to collide with the Sonic Bird head-on, Michel and Steve follow The Leader, who is trying to escape. They find out that Leader had constructed a base in the mountains near the salt flats. Parked in this state-of-the-art compound were a large number of trucks and personal cars. The doors leading to this compound were even large enough for a small helicopter to be able to be parked inside. This base was destroyed when Leader failed to break the sound barrier and tried to kill Steve and Michel by blowing up the base while they were investigating it, proving that The Leader will stop at nothing to achieve its goal.