And so they were. Sales were up by seven per cent to SEK 250 / £18.17 / €27.57 / $35.73 billion, and margins approached nine per cent. This is all very good. Deliveries were up to 219,931 units worldwide, but what of the future?

It has to be pointed out that any truck manufacturer not doing good numbers last year really did screw up. Both NAFTA and the EU went through the roof as a result of emissions pre-buying policies, and to be blunt, making money last year as a truck manufacturer was not a particularly onerous task.

This year is likely to be rather different. Over 80 per cent of AB Volvo's truck business lies in the EU and NAFTA. NAFTA accounted for 32 per cent of sales during 2006, and, as has already been pontificated upon here, you can more or less write that off for the next year or two.

In fairness, what Volvo has been trying to do is eminently sensible; it has been pushing hard in Asia and other non-traditional markets. But in doing so, it has got itself into a muddle.

The phrase ' swimming out to troopships' may be a touch vulgar, but it does seem to apply to Volvo's Chinese policy. It has been shafted, and shafted good by CNHTC, and we now understand why it exercised its Nissan Diesel option almost before the ink dried on the deal. Now it's making eyes at DongFeng, and is likely to face a big bill in order to extricate itself from China National. Not good.

In a parallel move, it is developing its Indian business - seemingly organically - with a view to making India a sourcing point for the rest of Asia. So it has nascent business in two of the world's largest truck markets.

Let's not forget Iran. Volvo's growing closeness with SAIPA sits at odds with a NASDAQ listing and possible sanctions being imposed on Tehran by Washington.

How does it integrate this into its existing business? So far, we have Volvo, Renault, Mack, Nissan Diesel, CNHTC, SAIPA and DongFeng, as well as rumours - albeit most unlikely to go the course - of a bid for MAN, and more concrete rumours of an interest in a bit of Ashok Leyland. Volvo has become a deal slut.

It's very difficult to see how all of these brands can ever be integrated, and at what cost. Volvo does heavy, ND/DongFeng medium and light. Whither Renault? We assume that the only reason Renault Trucks exists is because of Renault SA's 20 per cent stake in AB Volvo - which may or may not be a long term holding. Should it go then we can see no value at all in retaining the Renault brand. More expense.

Volvo has big potential volume, but no obvious plan. Does it intend to function as a loose alliance of local truck companies? This would be a strange move. Does it intend to draw synergies out of the pot? This would make sense, but is also going to be both a costly and a long process. And, having purchased all of this capacity, it now has to pay for it. With 82 per cent of its revenue accruing from markets that are set for a downturn, that is going to prove a neat trick.