The coronavirus pandemic has literally brought the world to a halt but there are growing signs of business recovery in China, one of the hardest hit countries, with all 2,000 Volkswagen Group brand dealerships now open again.
This sure bodes well for the rest of the world's auto industry with Volkswagen even saying showroom traffic during the last weekend of March was comparable to the same period last year.
"Our dealerships are seeing customers on the showroom floors once again. There are growing signs of recovery, with a good chance that the Chinese car market could reach last year’s level in early summer," said Volkswagen Group China CEO Stephan Wöllenstein.
"This year, MEB production will begin and the Volkswagen ID. family will debut in China," added Wöllenstein, suggesting the carmaker still has an exciting year ahead.
Over 95 per cent of the dealerships of the other locally producing brands Audi and Škoda have also reopened.
The SAIC Volkswagen joint venture plant in Changsha also resumed operations with the total number of Group facilities resuming operations rising to 32 out of 33 with just its Urumqi plant still offline.
