Here we have a Lifan Xuanlang MPV, seen on a second-hand car market in Beijing in 2019. The Lifan looked fine in white, with slightly tinted windows and some shiny bits here and there. The multi-spoke alloy wheels were factory standard.
The Lifan Xianlang debuted in 2016 and launched on the Chinese car market in 2017. At the time, the design was criticized a lot because it looked a tad too much like the second-generation Ford S-Max MPV. The first generation S-Max was made in China at Changan-Ford, but it didn’t sell well, so the second generation was not made there. Perhaps Lifan thought nobody would notice. But they were wrong. Size comparison:
Lifan Xuanlang: 4720/1840/1665, wheelbase is 2780.
Ford S-Max: 4796/1916/1655, and wheelbase is 2850.
However, Lifan added some unique details, like this ornament in the front fender. It looked like a kind of flying thing.
The Lifan Xuanlang MPV could be had with three different engines, all developed in-house at Lifan:
- a 1.8 with 133 hp and 168 Nm, mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox.
- a 2.0 with 141 hp and 185 Nm, mated to a 5-speed manual or a CVT.
- a 1.5 turbo with 141 hp and 234 nm, mated to a 5-speed manual or an 8-speed automatic.
The car we have here is of the latter kind. It was the top-spec version and sold for 96.800 yuan. For comparison, the base 1.8 sold for 69.800 yuan.
The 1.5 turbo automatic came with cushy leather seats, fake-wood trim, piano-black trim, and beige trim. Lots of colors indeed but the result was pretty nice. It has a sporty instrument panel with two round dials and a 9-inch screen for the infotainment. The system was equipped with Baidu CarLife, which was a relatively novel feature at the time.
The Lifan Xuanlang was a 7-seat car with a 2/2/3 configuration. The Ford S-Max, for comparison, was a 7-seat car as well, but it had a 2/3/2 configuration. So Lifan didn’t copy everything.
The rear with a sporty spoiler above the window and Ford-like lights.
Characters: 力帆轩朗, Lìfān Xuānlǎng. The 8 of 8AT is red. Red = speed. Many Chinese automakers had red lettering in those days, but they mostly red’ed the T of a turbo. Lifan, apparently, wanted to emphasize the number of gears in their automatic gearbox.
Sadly for Lifan, the Xuanlang was not a big success. The company was already in financial trouble at the time and didn’t have enough dealers and marketing resources to make the MPV a success. It was only produced in 2017 and 2018 and they are thus a very rare sight on the road, especially in big cities like Beijing.
But they are cheap second-hand! I found a nice 2017 1.5T just like the car that I saw with 60.000 km on the clock for just 43.800 yuan. Get some cheap Ford badges on Taobao and you got a nice ride for the family.