Shanghai (ZXZC)- Hit by the COVID-19 epidemic, most global automakers encountered steep plunge in China market last month. The Japanese automaker Honda said its China deliveries in February reached only 11,288 units, slumping 85.1% from the previous year.

To be specific, GAC Honda saw Feb. deliveries tumble 81.5% year on year to 7,485 units. Dongfeng Honda, the joint venture headquartered in the epicenter Wuhan, suffered a severer slump of 89.3% with only 3,803 new vehicles handed over to consumers.

As for the year-to-date performance, a total of 161,151 consumers in China took delivery of Honda-branded vehicles, a decrease of 24.1% over the year-ago period. Of those, GAC Honda contributed 83,751 units, posting a 28% decline, while Dongfeng Honda’s volume represented a double-digit drop of 19.5%.

According to the paper number, the decrease in cumulative sales was much lower than that of Feb. sales. It owes much to the rising performance the automaker delivered in January. Although the overall industry was saddled with both the Spring Festival holiday and the epidemic outbreak, Honda's China retail sales grew 9.8% from the prior-year period.

The China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) said the nationwide PV retail sales in February were estimated to plummet 80% from a year ago. Under the sweeping downward pressure, most automakers will fail to dodge the fate of drop. Aside from Honda, another Japanese auto giant Toyota also took huge hit last month. According to Nikkei' report, Toyota's China deliveries amounted to 23,800 units, plunging 70.2% over a year earlier, the steepest ever decrease since the year of 2000.