Rebecca Coleman has not owned a car since 1999. But in early March, as the coronavirus pandemic started to grip New York, she and her wife grew wary of using public transport and bought a Honda from a dealer in Queens via video chat.

“I didn’t want to have a car,” she says, but needed one to visit family outside of the city safely. “Basically, I caved on everything I would never cave on before. I think we both did.”

As carmakers around the world contend with a near total collapse in sales, and months of uncertainty even after they restart their plants, Ms Coleman’s tale offers a slim glimmer of hope to an industry caught in the grip of the pandemic.