us electric vehicle ev maker tesla inc has launched testdrive and delivery services involving no staff contact beijing chinas auto industry has gone from zero to sixty in its postpandemic campaign drive with manufacturers and dealers quick to woo back lockdownweary consumers through campaigns as unusual as a makeuppromoting personality touting car leasing social media celebrity lipstick king urged millions of fans on a livestreamed shopping show to sign up to a lease deal for general motors cos cadillac ct4 compact sedan this colour has the sense of im in charge independence he said displaying a scale model of a chocolatecoloured ct4 advt the plug is just one part of an eruption of promotional campaigns featuring steep discounts coldcalling and gimmicks from an industry obliterated by government restrictions on movement imposed in january to curb the spread of a virus which in china has infected 81000 people and caused 3300 deaths the economy shrank 21 in januaryfebruary with sales in the worlds biggest vehicle market last month plunging 79 retail sales of passenger cars dropped 45 in the first three weeks of march and the china association of automobile manufacturers does not expect demand to normalise until the third quarter with authorities gradually easing restrictions automakers and dealers have started the engines on their promotional machinery to undo what consulting firm ihs markit described as an unprecedented and almost instant stalling of demand us electric vehicle ev maker tesla inc has launched testdrive and delivery services involving no staff contact while zhejiang geely holding group co ltd is delivering disinfected cars and dropping off keys with drones the ev unit of guangzhou automobile group co ltd is even testing a system to perfume its aion lx suv with the aroma of traditional chinese medicine advt free masks saicgmwuling sgmw a venture between saic motor corp ltd us maker gm and a local partner on feb 25 started offering up to 11000 yuan off purchases of its wuling and baojun brand vehicles until the total discounts given reach 1 billion yuan 14169 million buyers also get medical masks seeing the promotion restaurateur wang zhiyuan 37 visited an sgmw dealership in beijing earlier this month and received a 2000 yuan discount on a wuling hongguang commercial minivan family sauna equipment supplier mo xiufeng 40 was at the same dealership viewing the same vehicle to make a purchase he had been chewing over since before the lockdown read alsothe clacking of chinese plants returns as rest of world goes in coronavirus quarantinechina coronavirus epicentre to open up as world locks down i havent been able to come in the meantime because fearing the virus i didnt want to leave my home he said the dealership sold just 20 vehicles in february it targets march sales of 100 versus an average of 500 before the virus due to the campaign sgmws nationwide is a picture of even quicker recovery a spokeswoman said march registered at least five days of sales surpassing 5000