AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)03/11 Report--

From 0 to 24:00 on March 10, 31 provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government) and Xinjiang production and Construction Corps reported 24 new confirmed cases (13 in Wuhan), 22 new deaths (19 in Wuhan) and 31 new suspected cases, according to data released by the National Health Commission.

According to previous information released by the Hubei provincial government, all kinds of enterprises in the province are not allowed to return to work before 24:00 on March 10. With the continuous reduction of new cases in Hubei Province, especially in Wuhan City, the epidemic has been effectively prevented and controlled. After the suspension of production in Hubei Province for more than a month, car companies in Hubei Province began to prepare to resume work.

On March 10, the COVID-19 epidemic Prevention and Control headquarters of Wuhan Economic and technological Development Zone issued a reply on the resumption of work of Dongfeng Honda Co., Ltd and its dealers. According to the document, according to the advice of COVID-19 epidemic Prevention and Control headquarters, Dongfeng Honda and its suppliers in the region were approved to start construction and resume production in stages.

Dongfeng Honda internal employees confirmed the authenticity of the document, but have not yet received a notice to resume work, it is expected to resume work in batches. Affected by the epidemic, Dongfeng Honda extended the resumption time four times, namely, February 14, 17, 24, and then to March 10.

Hubei Province is one of the four major automobile production bases in China. Dongfeng Motor, Peugeot Citroen, Citroen, Nissan, Honda, Renault and other automobile manufacturers have production bases, and more than 100 auto parts suppliers are located in Hubei. According to data, Hubei produced a total of 2.2475 million cars in 2019, second only to Guangdong, Jilin and Shanghai. The outbreak led to a complete shutdown of production in the upstream, middle and downstream industries in Hubei, especially Dongfeng Motor, where a number of joint ventures have set up factories, resulting in production and sales of 1192 and 1129 Dongfeng cars respectively in February.

Dongfeng Honda received approval from the local government on March 9, but it is not the only car company to apply for approval. The Dongfeng passenger car headquartered in Wuhan was also approved on March 9 and resumed work on March 12, according to the documents. Wuhan Dragon Automobile, Xiangyang Shenlong Automobile, SAIC General Motors South Plant and North Plant have all been approved, while Dongfeng Nissan, Dongfeng Renault and other car companies have not yet received the relevant notice of resumption of work.

Hubei is one of the central areas of automobile manufacturing in China, and it is also the main production base of auto parts. Auto parts suppliers including Bosch, Webster, Delphi, Valeo, Honeywell, Visteon and so on all have factories in the province. Previously, Nissan, Hyundai, Toyota and other car companies should stop production in overseas factories due to a shortage of spare parts.

Retail sales of passenger cars fell 78.5 per cent to 252000 units in February from a year earlier, down 41 per cent from January to February, the biggest drop in nearly 20 years, according to the Federation of passengers. Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the Federation of passengers, believes that in the context of the domestic car market recession, the epidemic has made the car market even worse. If there is no strong incentive policy at the national level, sales are expected to decline by 8% in 2020 compared with the same period last year.

Although the epidemic has been effectively controlled, it is impossible for the automobile industry to recover quickly in a short period of time, and it is predicted that there will be more room for improvement in May. However, as companies in the upper, middle and lower reaches gradually return to work and production, the auto industry is picking up more clearly than it was in February.

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