It seems like you could build a seat that folds down mostly flat similar to the ones in SUV's and vans if you just need it to double as a foot rest. The DVD player/tray table would still work mostly the same way.

Now they just need to figure out a way to ditch the driver's seat.

I'm sure some 'significant others' who think of themselves as 'the center of the universe' will love this vehicle. It also puts a whole new spin on the idiom 'back seat driver'. :-)

I can put a bed in the Grand Voyager and let somebody else or a robot drive. Insurance and tax are almost nothing. Mid seat and passenger seat will also work like this.

This is why Aerosmith sang Eat the Rich.

Perverse and sick - totally dehumanizing for the driver.

Your tongue in cheek comment on ethnographic research is likely more accurate than you think. Having visited China over 38 times (and being trained as an ethnographer) I was struck by the fact that the high status seat in a vehicle (usually a Toyota Landcruiser costing well over 150k in the remoter areas) was always in the front next to the driver. The back seats are for lower ranked people. Volvo is brilliant in expanding the favored front seat into a prestigious front/back seat for VIPs. I would invest if I could. Sales should be excellent.

That seat belt looks like it goes across her neck.

Considering how bad congestion is in China this is a perfectly reasonable development.

I would think a different seatbelt style would be needed to keep people from sliding underneath the lap belt in a front end crash.