Jaguar Land Rover may never get its money back from the sales they lost due to the recent Coronavirus outbreak in China. The virus not only dampened production, but also kept customers away from dealerships in one of the automaker’s largest markets.
JLR gets roughly 20 percent of its sales from China. The British brand even saw a recovery in sales in the People’s Republic, on its way to profitability.
“At the moment, we don’t see anything happening in terms of demand in China,” said CEO Ralf Speth during an interview with Bloomberg. “Now the question will be: ‘Will this kind of loss of demand be caught up, or will we just see a normal rise in demand?’ Nobody knows and nobody knows how long it will take.”
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The company’s Chinese plants only have about two weeks worth of supplies left, added Speth, who is “cautiously optimistic” that the UK and EU will agree to a deal that allows for free and fair trade following Brexit. Still, while the Changshu facility (near Shanghai) is expected to reopen next week, UK production could still be affected given the parts shortage.
Components made in China are used in millions of cars around the world, and the Hubei province (the center of the virus outbreak), is a major hub for parts and shipments.
So far, more than 1,800 have died because of this virus, while economic activity has idled as quarantines and travel restrictions have been put in place.
