BEIJING -- China's auto industry has gone from zero to sixty in its post-pandemic campaign drive, with manufacturers and dealers moving quick to woo back lockdown-weary consumers through campaigns as unusual as a makeup-promoting personality touting leases.
Social media celebrity Lipstick King urged millions of fans on a live-streamed shopping show to sign up for a lease deal for one of General Motors Co.'s Cadillac CT4 compact sedans.
"This color has the sense of 'I'm in charge' independence," he said, displaying a scale model of a chocolate-colored car.
The plug is just one part of a flury of promotional campaigns featuring steep discounts, cold calls and gimmicks, from an industry rocked by government restrictions on movement imposed in January to curb the spread of a virus which in China has infected 81,000 people and caused 3,300 deaths.
The economy shrank 21 percent in January-February with sales in the world's biggest vehicle market last mo…