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Media reports are indicating that auto dealerships in Wuhan, China, have been pleasantly surprised by the number of shoppers and buyers in that city in early April. Wuhan was both first and hardest hit in China by the COVID-19 coronavirus.
The shape and speed of economic and consumer resiliency globally will be carefully monitored in the second quarter of 2020, with activity in China and Wuhan in particular at the leading edge.
An April 8 report by Bloomberg posted to the Automotive News website indicates residents of Wuhan were quick to patronize auto dealerships in that city immediately after it emerged from a 74-day government-imposed lockdown.
The article quotes an Audi dealer in Wuhan as saying employees there were “pretty shocked” at the amount of foot traffic. According to the dealership’s Zhang Jiaqi, the Wuhan location is now recording daily sales matching pre-COVID-19 levels. “It’s like a boom after a two-month dormancy. I thought sales would be frozen.”
According to Bloomberg, weekly retail car sales numbers nationwide in China have been improving for more than a month, after dropping as much as 96 percent during the February peak of mandatory lockdowns in the nation.
One mitigating factor in China could be a newfound desire for cars as an alternative to public transportation. In large Chinese cities, trains and busses could be seen as potential places to be exposed to the virus.
All in all, however, the rebound in China could serve as a positive sign for economists, business owners and workers in the United States and other parts of the world who are hoping for a V-shaped recovery after they complete their own battles with the virus.
The automotive sector has been largely shut down in North America since the third week in March, causing a ripple effect in the metals production, oilfield and scrap processing sectors.