With the new leadership launching rounds of austerity campaigns, many automakers reacted with new models. Provided to chinadaily.com.cn

Government cars used to stress low-profile looking yet luxury interior decorations, but with the central government showing again and again their dedication to curb lavish spendings, automakers that target the government car market reacted.

Recently, Dongfeng Liuzhou Motor Co launched another multiple purpose vehicle model CM7 to cater to this niche demand.

The model features wider body and longer wheelbase, so riders can have more space inside. The back seat of CM7 has been equipped with electrically adjustable seats and enough space in front of the rear seats, resembling the design of the first-class cabin on an airplane.

Meanwhile, it reduces luxury inside decorations such as leather seats, so the sticker price can be brought down.

"We have received quite a few orders from the local governments to use this model as government cars,"says Wu Xuefeng, deputy general manager of Dongfeng Liuzhou Motor Sales co. "It adopts the new concept of austerity and fits the new requirement for government spendings."

The model also reduces the engine size from the previous 3 liters to 2.4 liters.

Previously, domestic vehicle models tend to copy the design of Buick GL8, the first foreign MPV model that was produced in China. The square-shaped vehicle can seat six to eight people and for a long time has been the role model of many latecomers in China.

During GL8's heydays, governments, institutions and companies even needed to wait

several months to buy this model. The popularity of this model also gives people stereotype that MPVs should be dull in looking and luxury in interior configurations.

"Unlike the sedan models which benefit a lot from the government policies, the MPV market is driven purely by the surging demands,"Wu says. "MPV is spacious and comfortable, and can accommodate more people, so it is has more value for governments and institutions."

Dong Yang, vice secretary-general of China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, says Chinese auto market is going through a transformation that consumers start buying their second cars, which tend to be more spacious and comfortable, "so it also poses opportunities for MPV manufacturers."