This report sums up rather nicely the rumour that has been doing the rounds over the past few weeks, and which has gathered pace following Daimler's less-than-perfect Q2 results.

In truth, rumours surrounding a possible divestment of Daimler's truck business are nothing new; they were doing the rounds back in the Schrempian era, at a time when the Internet wasn't around to facilitate their ready circulation.

But this one does seem to have some legs. We've already seen reports that Cevian might be gearing up for a pop at some of Daimler's free-floating stock. We hear that ADIA might be being drafted in as a blocking move. All told, we hear a lot of things.

A rational view of the current state of the automotive business worldwide would be one that veered towards pessimism. This could translate into value for a possible strategic - or opportunistic - buyer - hello Russians - but would seem to reduce the likelihood of a Gardell-type figure rattling the cage. You're not going to be getting top dollar for a truck manufacturer any time soon, and so splitting car and truck wouldn't seem to make a large lot of sense. Not that an absence of logic has ever prevented things happening in the Auto Biz.

We don't doubt for a moment that if any such move is made, it will be fought off very hard indeed.  But would such a move be made? Stranger things have happened.