CHONGQING Lifan Holdings, a Chinese motorcycle company that began making cars last year, has said it would buy Bayerische Motoren Werke AG's engine factory in Brazil if the equipment can be moved to China, Bloomberg News said.

"We dropped the plan last year after the Brazil government said we couldn't shift the factory," Chongqing Lifan President Yin Mingshan said in an interview in the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing. "We are still interested in buying the factory if the government changes its mind."

Chongqing Lifan, which began making 520 compact cars last year, is seeking acquisitions outside China to spur sales and set up factories. The company, which will have 18 overseas factories by December, generated two-thirds of its profit outside China last year, Yin said last week, without giving details. The engine plant, located at Campo Largo, Brazil, was set up by BMW and DaimlerChrysler AG in 1999 to make 1.6 liter and 1.4-liter gasoline engines.

The two auto makers export all the engines to global customers that include China's Chery Automobile Co in the eastern city of Wuhu, Anhui Province.

Chongqing Lifan, also China's largest motorcycle exporter, plans to sell a stake as large as 25 percent in a Shanghai initial public offering this year to fund overseas expansion, Yin said early this month.