China is the world’s biggest car market, and Wuhan (epicenter of the coronavirus) is known as a “motor city”—home to General Motors, Honda, Nissan, Peugeot Group, and Renault auto plants. For Honda alone, Wuhan accounts for about 50% of total production in China. In 2019, Hubei Province was the fourth-largest car producer in China, representing about 10% of the country’s car-making capacity and producing 2.24 million vehicles.
Car sales in China dropped 80% in February 2020, according to the China Passenger Car Association. The impacts on the automotive industry are being felt beyond China’s borders, as shortages of supplies from China stall production around the world. Hyundai and Kia recently stopped several assembly lines in Korea, and Nissan announced it would suspend its auto production in Japan. General Motors suggested that production outages could affect plants in Michigan and Texas, while Jaguar Land Rover warned the virus could create problems at its assembly plants in Britain.