The behaviour of the Chinese vehicle market – with car sales rising 37 per cent last month – adds to the notion of an all-knowing, all-seeing Beijing. While Detroit stumbles from one rescue plan to another, China has (at least temporarily) taken leadership of the world vehicle market – all, it seems, because Beijing had the wisdom to cut vehicle purchase taxes at the right time.

But just because China is generating lots of sales for distressed foreign auto companies with Chinese joint ventures does not mean Beijing is also about to bail out their failing brands. Chinese automakers are fuelling the frenzy by leaking news that they have bid for Saab or Volvo – and then denying it to their local stock exchange. Last week alone, Geely, one of China’s largest private automakers, denied it had plans to bid for Volvo or Saab, and Changan Auto denied that it wants to buy Volvo from its joint venture partner, Ford.