Published reports have two European truck manufacturers hot on the tail of deals with Asian counterparts.

The German weekly magazine Der Spiegel reports that Juergen Schrempp, co-chairman of DaimlerChrysler, will visit Japan shortly to talk about acquiring financially troubled Nissan Diesel.
According to the magazine, the German automaker and parent of Freightliner is waiting to see Nissan Diesel's creditor banks forgive most of its debts or for Nissan Diesel to declare bankruptcy. At that point, DC may buy the troubled truck maker. DaimlerChrysler and Nissan Diesel last year had agreed to work on jointly developing trucks, but that deal fell through after Renault's acquisition of a stake in Nissan.
Meanwhile, Renault's stock rose last week after a Korean newspaper reported it was interested in buying Samsun Motors. According to London's Financial Times newspaper, while Renault would make not comment on the Korean report, the chairman of Renault's truck-making unit told the paper recently that it had held talks with Samsung and with Daewoo, another Korean manufacturer.