Feb 7 (Reuters) - The coronavirus outbreak could reduce the Chinese automotive sales and production by 3% to 5% this year, if the epidemic continues into the second quarter, auto consultant LMC Automotive said on Friday.

The epidemic is "damaging consumer confidence, delaying purchasing, and impacting China's consumer economy which accounts for more than half of the country's gross domestic product," LMC Automotive said in a statement https://prn.to/2SqguTo.

"In this scenario, China's GDP growth rate would drop towards 5% for 2020."

This could potentially disrupt the North American auto industry as well, as the local automotive supply chain would be affected, with a number of suppliers delaying their post-holiday production, LMC Automotive said. (Reporting by Ankit Ajmera in Bengaluru; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)