Chongqing Lifan Industry Co. plans to develop seven-seat multipurpose vehicles for family use now that China has rescinded a one-child rule.

 

Lifan unveiled the plan at an auto show in the southwest China municipality of Chongqing, where the company is headquartered.

 

Lifan cited two reasons why demand for seven-seat MPVs is expected to grow quickly. Consumers born in the 1980s have become mainstream car buyers and the Chinese government said earlier this year that it would allow married couples to have two children.

 

At the Chongqing auto show, Lifan unveiled its first seven-seat MPV, the Maiwei. The vehicle carries a 1.5-liter gasoline engine and a five-speed manual transmission or a 4-speed automatic gearbox. 

 

The company says it will introduce several bigger seven-seat MPV models in the future.

 

Although Lifan is known primarily as a leading manufacturer of motorcyles, it also produces small cars. 

 

In the first five months, the company sold 44,418 gasoline-powered cars, down 6 percent year on year. In that same period, sales of electric vehicles rose 3 percent to 1,593 vehicles