Never mind the $30bn-odd Daimler-Benz ultimately torched on Chrysler. This week, the German luxury carmaker is strutting the Frankfurt auto show catwalk, free of its Detroit baggage. Investors approve - the company's stock price has outperformed the FTSE World index by almost 40 per cent this year, largely courtesy of the disposal, finally announced in May. A €7.5bn share buyback programme has also just been signalled.

If completed, that would still leave the balance sheet in solid shape, but big deals are off the agenda. The new Daimler's strategy is to grind out efficiency gains - operating profit margins for cars are targeted to hit 10 per cent by 2010 "at the latest", from about 7 per cent now. Productivity is being lifted by job cuts and a simplification of the assembly process. The company believes that this year's C-class is a third less costly to make than its predecessor. And the truck division, which now accounts for a quarter of group operating profits, is coping well with the drop in US demand caused by stricter emissions rules.