SINGAPORE – The Chinese are not only disrupting the entire automotive industry with their fast and furious electrification programme, but they may also be leading a revival of two car genres which have been waning in popularity.

First, they are rolling out multi-purpose vehicles – long thought to be near-extinct except for the Toyota Alphard and Nissan Serena – with amazing regularity. Models such as the Denza D9, Zeekr 009, Xpeng X9, MG M9, Maxus Mifa 9 and BYD M6 are now increasingly common on the road.