World number two truck maker Volvo posted a bigger than expected fall in truck shipments in August as a slowdown in Europe - above all in its Renault brand's home market France - and lingering weakness in Brazil weighed. Shipments of the group's truck brands - Volvo, Mack, UD Trucks and Renault - fell 8 percent year-on-year versus a mean forecast in a Reuters poll of analysts for a 1.5 percent fall. "This was to some extent what we had feared," Handelsbanken analyst Hampus Engellau said. "The problem is that Volvo has had a weaker development in Europe due to a very weak market in France, where Renault has a market share of over 30 percent". The company, which vies for market leadership with Germany's Daimler AG and Volkswagen's MAN SE and Scania brands, said deliveries in its top market, Europe, tumbled 19 percent the 11 percent decline seen by analysts. Shipments of Renault trucks alone plunged 32 percent in Europe during the month, Volvo said. In South America, where the weak economy in Brazil has been a major drag on the truck market in 2014, shipments fell 42 percent, hit by lower demand and an inventory reduction by its dealers. Shipments in North America, which has been one of few markets bright spot for Volvo this year, rose 22 percent. (Reuters)