Automakers brace for crisis as coronavirus wreaks havoc in China

PARIS/TOKYO -- Forget about clinging to hopes that China, the world's largest car market, will recover from its unprecedented two-year slump anytime soon.
 
Though concrete estimates on the financial toll of the coronavirus outbreak are still scarce, signs are emerging that the final cost will far outweigh that of the 2003 SARS epidemic, when China's auto market was one-sixth the size it is today and smaller than that of Japan.