Half a year after the acclaimed world premiere of the BYTON Concept at the world's largest trade fair for consumer electronics, CES in Las Vegas, BYTON CEO and co-founder Carsten Breitfeld looks back very positively on the last few months, but above all looks ahead into the future on the way to mass production, according byton.com. “We have set the ambitious goal of changing the world of mobility in much the same way that the iPhone has changed the world of communication,” said Breitfeld during a visit to the BYTON Design and Development Center in Munich. “It makes us proud that this ambitious goal is obviously not only supported by our investors and employees, but also by global media, industry experts and technology fans. The positive feedback is a clear sign for us that not only our concept, but also the timing is just right. People in big cities in China, USA and Europe want to make the most of their time in the car thereby using the same technical possibilities, apps, and online offers like at home or at work. Our customers want to enjoy the time in the car, no matter what the traffic looks like. Currently, no car is designed as consistently as ours. With all that, BYTON, which has its headquarters in China and development and design centers around the world, has a tremendous advantage.”
From the beginning of the year, the BYTON Concept, a survey of an almost-ready-for production-series Premium SUV, already thrilled people at CES in Las Vegas during the Milan Design Week at Auto China in Beijing and in Munich as part of a Europe-wide roadshow. It will stop in Oslo and Amsterdam in June and July.
Buoyed by the first noticeable successes, the BYTON team is now preparing the next steps for series production in Nanjing, China. In a few days, the new company headquarters will be inaugurated there, the construction work for the production facilities is already going on and the prototype construction has brought the first development vehicles onto the road. The oldest and most renowned Chinese automotive company - First Automotive Works, FAW for short, joined us as one of the first investors recently. FAW acts as the lead investor in the second round of investment and participates in BYTON with a three-digit million amount (US dollars). The corresponding contract was signed in May 2018.
“The Chinese automobile market offers excellent conditions for our company. The infrastructure developments, the market forecasts and the keen interest of the people in our products strengthen us enormously. Of course, our deep understanding of the Chinese market as a basis for our economic success also helps us,” explains Dr. med. Daniel Kirchert, President and co-founder of BYTON.
In 2019, the first BYTON Premium SUVs are to be rolled off the production line in China and sold in the country of production. By 2020, the first BYTONs will also be available in the US and Europe. This is followed by a sports sedan in the premium format, which, like the first model, is electrically powered. The design study, which will be presented at CES Asia in Shanghai in mid-June 2018, gives an overview of this model. As a third model, a seven-seat MPV will complete the first BYTON model family.
About BYTON
It is not about refining cars. It is about refining life.
BYTON aspires to build premium intelligent electric vehicles for the future. Its crafted cars integrate advanced digital technologies to offer customers a smart, sage, comfortable and eco-friendly driving and mobility experience.
BYTON aims to create a premium brand rooted in China which has a global reach. Its global headquarters, intelligent manufacturing base and R&D center are located in Nanjing, China, while its North American headquarters, devoted to intelligent car experience, autonomous driving, whole vehicle integration and other cutting-edge technologies, is based in the Silicon Valley. The company’s vehicle concept and design center is located in Munich. BYTON also has offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong to handle external affairs, marketing, sales, design and investor relations.
BYTON’s core management team is made up of the world’s top experts from China, Europe and the U.S., all of whom have held senior management positions in innovative companies such as BMW, Tesla, Google and Apple. Their expertise covers automotive design, automotive engineering and manufacturing, electric powertrain, intelligent connectivity, autonomous driving, user interface and supply chain management among other industry sectors, the sum of which represents BYTON’s strengths in manufacturing premium automobiles that are equipped with high quality internet technologies.
As an innovation-driven start-up, BYTON has completed its series A financing. Current shareholders include BYTON’s founding team, Harmony Auto, Auto Investments, League Automotive Technologies, Legend Capital, and industrial investment fund in Jiangsu, China, and Chengdu Group among other investors.
