Volvo-Renault: it's all over
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• Volvo and Renault are at odds for the second time in a fortnight following the announcement that a full merger between the two truck makers is off.
This time the two manufacturers are sending conflicting messages about the future of a three-year-old alliance, due to run until 2001, intended to be an engagement period before marriage.
The alliance in terms of truck manufacturing consists of a 45% share swap and a written agreement of co-operation which has mainly covered development, purchasing and financing.
Volvo says it wants the agreement to continue: sources within Renault say it is in severe doubt, though officially, the company will only say that it has "lost momentum".
A full merger between the manufacturers would have saved hundreds of millions of pounds from 1 January this year to 2,000.
Volvo had planned to present the merger deal to be ratified at an Extraordinary Shareholders Meeting on 7 December.
The board of Volvo's holding company says it then regretfully withdrew the proposal last Friday (3 December) after concluding that the majority of votes at the meeting would go against the deal.