February 27th, 2020.


As China keeps key manufacturing cities on lockdown in an attempt to control the spread of the virus, David McMullan - our man in China - assesses the effects on the country’s bike industry. 

The coronavirus has severely disrupted the Chinese motorcycle manufacturing industry. Whereas January to March are usually the busiest and most productive time for the industry, this year the deadly coronavirus has prevented factories from opening back up after the holiday shut-down.

Last week I spoke to Wu Xihan from Chongqing’s Zongshen motorcycle company, who told me: “We have had an extended holiday due to the virus but we’re hoping to start work again at around 50 per cent capacity in February. We will be taking stringent measures to ensure that all workers are healthy and properly prepared, and of course apologise to any customers that may be waiting for services and products. We’re sure that they understand our problem.”

Chongqing is a neighbouring city to Wuhan, the ground zero for the virus, and has been locked down, with all industry halted and buses and taxis banned from taking passengers. It isn’t only neighbouring cities that are adversely affected by the virus. The Evoke electric motorcycle company in Beijing has also been forced to temporarily halt production, owing to effects on companies in its supply chain.

To read the rest of this article, turn to page 21 of the March issue of Motorcycle Trader, due to land with the UK's motorcycle trade and industry from tomorrow. 

David McMullan is Motorcycle Trader's China correspondent. Email: englishmaninchina@gmail.com