Or does it?

Here is evidence that would appear to refute entirely that of which we have been blathering on about for the past few months.

We say: Western Europe has already stopped for business; we've referred already to Ifo data for Germany, the UK is manifestly in belt tightening mode and here's a cheery little tale about Spain. Readers who might have money out in the Spanish property market at present might wish to look elsewhere for a moment. Anyway, Western Europe - bad.

AB Volvo's delivery data for January - July 2008 show y-o-y increases for both Volvo - 26281 from 23319  - and Renault - 37362 from 33325, numbers that suggest the good times have not quite faded.

Eastern Europe. We say: It can't decouple from Western Europe, and if Western Europe goes to the wall, then Eastern Europe will follow. And AB Volvo's deliveries? Both brands - Volvo and Renault - are again outpacing themselves in terms of year on year figures; YTD statistics show Volvo putting through 11358 units into Eastern Europe (which includes Russia) against 9958 during the same period last year, whilst Renault has scored 6808 so far this year, over 4776 during 2007. Very good; in sum, AB Volvo has delivered 3432 more trucks into Eastern Europe so far this year than it managed during the same period last year.

Do we feel foolish? No, but we will refer to the un-named AB Volvo spokesperson who is quoted by Reuters as saying: "The downturn regarding the economic situation in Europe, as well as high fuel prices, continues to affect the truck demand adversely. The demand on the North American market remains at a low level."

There's a far easier spin to attach to this. We Europeans like to take our holidays around about this time of year. Deliveries dip in July and August, and so AB Volvo might appear to be overdoing the pessimism here.

Or is it, in fact, being very cute in managing down expectations ahead of the carnage that we remain convinced will be visited upon the European truck markets - both West and East - as of the fourth quarter? To be in the black at present is a pretty good achievement, and AB Volvo's caution is therefore even more noteworthy.