Carmakers and auto suppliers in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, are resuming operations gradually after a hiatus of nearly 50 days. Dongfeng Honda, a joint venture of Dongfeng Motor Corp, commenced production in Wuhan two days after it got the written approval from local authorities, while Dongfeng’s Chinese-branded passenger vehicle subsidiary also resumed production. Wuhan-based Dongfeng is the country’s third-largest automobile group by sales, and has over 160,000 employees. It has partnerships with international companies like Honda, Nissan, PSA and Renault. “Dongfeng Honda has a large sales volume, so it is one of the first within the group to resume production,” said a Dongfeng staff member. Established in 2003, the joint venture has three plants in Wuhan, with a combined annual production capacity of over 600,000 vehicles, and employs over 12,000 people.

The Dongfeng employee told China Daily that Dongfeng Honda has not resumed full-scale operation because people in Wuhan need to get a health code from local authorities to travel within the city. Other joint ventures are expected to follow suit soon. A representative at Wuhan-based Dongfeng Renault said the company was scheduled to resume operations on March 16. Another Sino-French joint venture, Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen, said it is actively engaged in preparations for production, although it has not decided on the date. Hubei province, especially Wuhan, is one of the most important automotive manufacturing regions in China.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), carmakers in the province produced 2.24 million vehicles in 2019, accounting for 8.8% of the country’s total. Besides Dongfeng and its joint ventures, U.S. carmaker General Motors as well as auto parts suppliers including Valeo, Webasto and Bosch have manufacturing facilities in the province. GM’s joint venture SAIC-GM said its Wuhan plant has got the necessary approvals from the local authorities to resume production. A representative at French auto parts supplier Valeo said its two plants in Wuhan have received the approval as well. Valeo also has two plants in Jingzhou, also in Hubei province, and they have been in production for a while. German auto parts producer Webasto said it has filed applications to restart production at its two Hubei plants – one in Wuhan and another in Xiangyang, and is also expected to receive official approval soon. Carmakers and auto suppliers in regions outside of Hubei province have been in production for a while, with most of their plants having opened in February.

Statistics from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) show that carmakers in the country produced 215,000 vehicles in February, down 80.6% from the same month last year. Passenger vehicle sales during the month slumped 78.5% year-on-year to 252,000 units. During the first two months, vehicle sales totaled 1.97 million units, down 41% from the same period a year ago. Cui Dongshu, CPCA Secretary General, expected sales will slowly rebound in March and April before reaching the normal level in May, if the epidemic can be effectively curbed by April, the China Daily reports.

Chinese auto sales dropped 79% to 310,000 units in February from a year earlier, the 20th consecutive monthly decline, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM). It was a 15-year low. The drop follows falls of 18% in January and 0.1% in December. In total, 2.23 million vehicles were sold in the first two months of this year, down 42% year-on-year, the Shanghai Daily reports. The Association had predicted auto sales were likely to fall 5% in 2020, a third consecutive year of contraction.