While Tesla has been the leader in car tech, Byton CEO Daniel Kirchert believes that the companys vehicles will push Teslas innovations to new heights. Tesla has proven, through its Model 3 sedan, you can sell significant numbers of EVs at the right price, Kirchert said, although a compelling price alone does not lead to sales. Byton CEO Daniel Kirchert believes that the companys M-Byte EVs distinguishing technology features will particularly appeal to younger consumers, who have grown up with smartphones and expect similar capabilities in their cars.
The companys M-Byte electric SUV will feature a 48-inch dash screen stretching across the entire width of the windshield, as well as having a touchscreen on the steering wheel, both Byton CEO Daniel Kirchert said are automotive-industry firsts. In addition to the M-Byte SUV, Byton has shown its K-Byte concept, which is for an electric sedan. Its first concept vehicle is a fully-electric, all-battery-electric concept car with sedan styling.
While it is still pretty expensive at just $45, Bytons M-Byte is an SUV as well, which is not in the Tesla line-up. For sale, EV startup Byton is pricing the companys electric M-Byte SUV closest to its Model 3 sedan, compared with its higher-end vehicles, the Model S sedan ($79,990) and the Model X SUV ($84,990).
Chinese EV startup Byton originally said that its M-Byte e-SUV would be launched in Q4 2019, followed by the sedan and the MEV in 2021 and 2022. Empowered by a huge 48-inch infotainment display on its M-Byte SUV, struggling battery-car startup Byton China made headlines in 2018, and with the completion of work at its Chinese plant, with the first pre-production vehicle rolling off its production line in early 2020, things are looking good for some time.
China-based EV startup Byton is one of a number of Chinese electric-vehicle production startups to have emerged in recent years, challenging foreign companies such as Tesla. The company told TechCrunch that it is in the closing stages of a round that will include investors from the FAW Group and Nanjing Municipal Government Industrial Investment Fund, Myoung Shin Co. from South Korea, MS Autotech, and Japanese firm Marubeni Corporation. China-based EV startup Byton was launched in September 2017 by Future Mobility Corp, a company co-founded by ex-BMW and Nissan executives, with also US and German design software and development facilities. Byton plans to release two more vehicles – a hatchback and seven-seat utility car – by 2022.
Byton plans to release its electric SUV in China by 2019, followed by Europe and America by 2020, giving the company a quick three-year turnaround. Byton is taking reservations now for its M-Byte SUV, and has said that Byton will bring its plug-in SUV to market in China next year, with EVs rolling out in the United States and Europe by 2021. Its M-Byte EV is Chinese EV startup Bytons first model, expected to be launched in China in 2020, then become available in the U.S. and Europe in 2021. David Twohig, Bytons Chief Technology Officer, told us both the rear-wheel-drive and four-wheel-drive versions of its M-Byte SUV will be available.
With its strategic partnership with Foxconn, struggling EV manufacturer Byton now hopes to begin producing its first vehicle in Q1 2022. A strategic partnership with Foxconn is welcome news for embattled electric car maker Byton. Its first vehicle, a sport utility vehicle called M-Byte, will begin production by the middle of 2020. Embattled electric car maker Byton has 60,000 pre-orders for its first vehicle, which it expects to make 300,000 vehicles per year, as of January 2020. When Byton unveiled its M-Byte electric SUV back in 2018, it looked like a highly credible EV, one that looked to be closing in on production, and we expected to see it debut on the market sometime in 2019, with plans to start full-scale production for 2022.
Its M-Byte electric crossover was shown off both at Frankfurt and the Guangzhou Auto Shows in 2019, as well as the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas the year before. IPhone manufacturer Foxconn actually helped the Chinese electric car startup Byton to take off back in 2016, when it worked with Tencent to form a company called Future Mobility Corporation, which was meant to manufacture EVs, and Future Mobility Corporation ultimately became Byton. In 2016, Tencent, along with manufacturing partner Foxconn and luxury auto retailer Harmony New Energy Auto, launched a new joint venture called Future Mobility, a vehicle startup aiming to sell fully-autonomous, fully-electric luxury cars by 2020. Chinese EV startup Byton has not built the cash reserves to weather that eventuality, said the person, choosing instead to plough almost all its approximately $820 million in investments into developing the factory and getting the prototype ready for manufacturing, as it seeks additional financing.