Last month was a record-breaking month for the automobile market in Shanghai, China’s most populous city. And we are talking about the anti-record: for the month in the 26-million-strong metropolis was sold zero cars, reports Bloomberg. The culprit was the severe lockdown that followed a new outbreak of the coronavirus, which was the largest since COVID-19 was detected in Wuhan in late 2019.
Shanghai residents were forbidden to leave their homes without a good reason. Yes and almost all dealerships in the city were closed, Bloomberg wrote, citing the Shanghai Automobile Sales Association, which represents about 300 auto brands present in the market.
Last April, 26,311 cars were sold in Shanghai. As for China as a whole, the drop was also a record for the past two years, with sales down nearly 36 percent to 1.06 million cars, according to the China Passenger Car Association.
It is reported that no cases of coronavirus have been reported in Shanghai for nearly three days, which is how long it takes for the lockdown, which has been going on for six weeks, to subside.