10 AUTOCAR.CO.UK 8 APRIL 2 020
t may feel strange to be
worrying about business
at a time when people are
worrying about their lives
because of a global pandemic,
but the harsh reality is that
there are more than 1.5 million
people employed in the UK
automotive industry, covering
everything from suppliers tomanufacturers to retailers.
While there’s no rulebook
on how the coronavirus will
spread or for how long it will
disrupt, there are insights to
be gleaned from other nations’
experiences. At this early
stage, China is the obvious
one to look to, with Wuhan the
epicentre of the pandemic
but now, 8-12 weeks later,
seemingly over the worst of it.
The bald facts of the sales
slump in China make alarming,
if now familiar, reading. After
the outbreak, large parts of
the country were shut down.
Swathes of factories, many of
them automotive-oriented,
were closed. Likewise retailers,
who were ordered to shut.
And large sections of the
public were not only placed
in lockdown but also had littleto no interest in buying cars.
In the first half of February,
China’s new car registrations
were down 92% year on year.
A market of 1.8 million in
January had fallen to just
250,000 in February – but even
before that month was out,
there were signs of the industry
adapting to the situation.
The figures were still brutal,
but that first-half collapse
had ‘recovered’ by the end of
Fe b r u a r y to b e co m e a n 8 1 .7 %
year-on-year drop. For the
first half of March, the year-
on-year fall was back to 47% –
or, to put a more positive spin
on it, halfway to recovery.
So how did that bounceback
Just three months after the outbreak, the world’s
biggest new car market is already bouncing back
Some 500 million in China have
had their movement restricted
Coronavirus and
the Chinese car
industry: what
we can learn
ANALYSIS