The Corona-virus is freezing the World’s biggest car market in China

German automotive industry expert Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer said that the Corona-virus is freezing the world’s biggest car market in China.

As the effects of the novel Corona-virus outbreak bite, China’s car market could shrink up to seven percent year-on-year in 2020.

It was a weak start to the year,” VDA president Hildegard Mueller told a Berlin press conference, noting that sales in the first two weeks of February were down 92%.

Even before the Corona-virus crisis, we expected a fall of 2% in the Chinese market, and we are now assuming a scenario with a drop of up to 7%,” Mueller added.

We shouldn’t expect a quick recovery. China’s CPCA carmakers’ group judged the fall in deliveries could mount as high as 70% year-on-year in February, and 40% in January-February combined.

Production dips arising from supply shortages “can be caught up,” Dudenhoeffer predicted, but “the fall in economic growth and demand will persist.”

With 35% of German carmakers’ worldwide sales stemming from China, a weak market there presents “major risks,” the professor said.

Sales in China had already slumped 10% last year under the effect of trade wars with the United States. Looking to the worldwide market, Germany’s VDA sees car sales falling 3% in 2020.

Asia Times / ABC Flash Point News 2020.