Following the news that China’s vehicle market was down 43% in March at 1.43 million units;

David Leggett, Automotive Editor at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers his views:

“Things are getting better, but China’s vehicle market is coming up off the floor. April will be key to seeing how the recovery to demand is shaping up and also how robust it is.

“The key thing for China is to rebuild confidence – for businesses and consumers – in the coming months. GlobalData believes that it will be some time before China’s auto industry returns to pre-crisis levels and that there will be a market decline, over the year as a whole, of at least 10%.

“There is still a risk of a further major COVID-19 outbreak in China and, if that were to occur, there would be considerable additional damage to confidence and the Chinese economy, with the automotive industry experiencing a further contraction to activity.”