AUTO sales in China plunged 79.1 percent in February, marking their biggest ever monthly decline, as a COVID-19 outbreak hit demand, data from the country’s largest auto industry association showed Thursday.

Total auto sales in China, the world’s biggest auto market, fell to 310,000 units from the same month a year earlier, declining for a twentieth straight month, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) said.

The number of new energy vehicles (NEVs) sold contracted for an eighth month in a row.

China’s car market has been badly hurt from the outbreak that has killed more than 3,100 people in world’s second-largest economy.

While some Chinese cities are offering incentives to revive car sales, auto production remains limited with carmakers from Toyota Motor to Great Wall reporting big sales drops last month.

The CAAM estimates auto sales will drop by more than 10 percent in the first half of this year, a senior official at the association said last month, and around 5 percent for the whole year if the outbreak is effectively contained before April.

The World Health Organization has classified the outbreak as a pandemic. The COVID-19 has infected over 121,000 people in 118 countries while over 4,300 people have died due to it.

Industry sales fell 8.2 percent in China last year, pressured by new emission standards in a shrinking economy and trade tensions with the United States. (SD-Agencies)