Although most of the world's leading auto manufacturers have heard echoes of the scandal, most bosses here seemed little concerned by the news.

French automaker Renault has suspended three top managers for allegedly leaking secrets about its electric car program to China, despite angry denials from Beijing that it played any role in the incident.

"Our partner is very focused on making sure they understand what went wrong," said Carlos Tavares, chairman of Nissan's Americas division, one of the first to discuss the situation.

"We at Nissan trust that our partner Renault will do the right thing to fix it," he said, but refused to discuss the situation further as the investigation is still ongoing.

Top bosses from Germany's Daimler, which last year sealed a deal to make small cars with Renault-Nissan, were equally cautious about rushing to judgment.

Chief executive Dieter Zetsche told AFP he didn't know anything more than what he had read in the press, and added he was ready to boost collaboration with the company in making electric vehicles.

Reports have said the leaked secrets concerned details of the electric cars on which Renault has staked its future.

The firm says it did not lose any major trade secrets in the affair and has not commented on the allegations about China.

Tavares offered assurances that Nissan's electric cars projects were not affected by the affair. "Nissan has its own policy to make sure that we protect all the assets we're supposed to protect," he said.

"Of course we are cautious and we take into consideration everything we learn and what may have happened at Renault."

While any incident of industrial espionage is troubling and could give a competitor an unfair advantage, Nissan's electric vehicle program is at a less sensitive stage now that the all-electric Leaf is available to buyers.

"In the case of Nissan, our technology is already in the hands of our customers because we are already in the market," Tavares said.

Other leading players were equally reluctant to voice an opinion. Volkswagen chief executive, Martin Winterkorn, refused to be drawn.

The leading German automaker was caught up in an espionage scandal in the 1990s when a former boss at General Motors, Jose Ignacio Lopez de Arriortua, was accused of passing confidential GM documents to Volkswagen.

The scandal was eventually resolved with an amicable accord between the two companies.

Luxury sports car maker Porsche was also unruffled by the latest case of espionage. "Part of (our) contract is that you're not allowed to give information to the competitors," said chief executive Matthias Mueller.

He blamed any spying scandal on a "problem of company culture and compliance," saying affected firms needed to ensure that workers were not motivated to betray their company.

But at General Motors there was more understanding. General Motors' chief executive, Dan Akerson, said he is sure there are "attacks on GM's intellectual property" although he did not know of any specific examples.

"I worry about it every day," Akerson said, quoted by the British daily The Independent, and expressing sympathy with Renault's plight.

Prevention was key, automakers agreed. Companies needed "to safeguard" their intellectual property "whether it's through firewalls or through agreements," said Mark Reuss, president of GM North America.

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