Shanghai (ZXZC)- China's biggest automaker SAIC Motor saw its new vehicle sales in February plunge 86.95% year on year, but it is not an unexpected result as the overall industry has taken hit due to the coronavirus spread.

Affected by the drastic drop in February, the automaker's year-to-date sales were more than halved over the year-ago period.

The production was down to a record low level as well. Last month, the group produced 32,260 new vehicles, a year-on-year nosedive of 90.17%. Correspondingly, the Jan.-Feb. outputs plummeted 52.55% to only 451,181 units.

The subsidiaries focusing on domestic market all faced sharp decrease. I would be remiss not to mention the winner of the championship. SAIC Volkswagen was no longer the ever-victorious general, and it was overtaken by SAIC-GM-Wuling, which earns much likes with its new identity—China's first automaker that produces masks and manufacture mask-producing facility.

Last month, the crossover mask maker was hit by an 88.08% plunge, while it still outsold the other SAIC Motor's subsidiaries. Its rapid and flexible response to the anti-coronavirus fight has set an inspiring example to enterprises in coping with severe risks.

Both SAIC Volkswagen and SAIC-GM posted year-on-year decrease of over 90% in Feb. sales. Given the epidemic control and prevention, SAIC Volkswagen had not entirely restarted operation at all of its production bases until late Feb.

However, the Sion-German joint venture still set up a new milestone during the virus-hit month. On Feb. 28, SAIC Volkswagen saw its 22 millionth vehicle roll off the production line, honored China's first PV manufacturer that breaks the threshold.

A very strong contrast with the sliding trend in domestic market is that SAIC Motor gained a vigorous growth in overseas business. The automaker said it exported and delivered outside China over 21,000 vehicles in Feb., achieving a blooming jump of 32% over a year ago. Meanwhile, the year-to-date volume leapt roughly 20% to more than 45,000 units, of which 25,000 units were from MG brand, a remarkable year-on-year surge of 150%.

With more importance attached, overseas markets are expected to be a critical growth point for many China automakers. Aside from SAIC Motor, Chery Holding also announced an impressive increase in export. The company said its Feb. auto exports shot up 39.9% to 8,419 units, making the year-to-date number aggregate 17,376 units.

Although the combat against the novel coronavirus has not ended yet, most automotive companies outside key affected regions have resumed operation and manufacturing businesses, according to the China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

As of March 3, 84.1% of production bases owned by 16 key complete vehicle groups in China have restarted operation, the ministry said. Besides, roughly 66.5% of employees covered by the survey have returned to work. We are looking forward to sales rebound with everything going back on normal track (photo source: SAIC Motor's WeChat account).