Wuhan, a city of 11 million, known as China's 'Detroit' is reopening after the city was put on lockdown on January 23rd . The city, the original epicenter of the novel coronavirus, reopened train stations on sat and bus and subway service on Monday. This comes as good news as Chinese officials have been working to revive manufacturing and other industries while also preventing a spike in infections as people return to work. Automakers and parts suppliers in and around Wuhan are still dealing with partially blocked roads and health inspections on major transportation arteries, which has created problems moving around raw materials and finished parts.

The opening of public transit and loosening of travel around Hubei province means more people can get back to work in the manufacturing hub and more auto parts can be shipped out.

Chinese automakers and parts producers exported $53 billion worth of automotive components to the United States, Europe, Japan, South Korea and elsewhere last year. 

• Honda is expecting to reopen its Wuhan hub this week after the lockdown is lifted. Together, Honda’s two China hubs have the capacity to produce 1.2 million vehicles a year, or more than 20% of the company’s total global production.
• Nissan and Hyundai both have manufacturing facilities in Hubei province and have seen disruption to their supply chains but they are beginning to ramp up production as transportation in Wuhan and around Hubei province continues to open up and staff can return to work.
• U.S. auto supplier Cooper Standard headquartered outside of Detroit has 13 factories across China which have resumed production with 65% of the normal workforce.
• U.S. drivetrain supplier Dana Inc has luckily avoided any significant disruptions of there Chinese supply lines.