Byton was a Chinese-German

all-electric vehicle An electric vehicle (EV) is a vehicle that uses one or more electric motors for propulsion. It can be powered by a collector system, with electricity from extravehicular sources, or it can be powered autonomously by a battery (sometimes cha ...

automotive

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established in 2017 and incorporated in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

, co-founded by former BMW and

Nissan , trade name, trading as Nissan Motor Corporation and often shortened to Nissan, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The company sells ...

executives. Byton unveiled its first concept car to the public in January 2018. It planned to introduce its M-Byte SUV model first, with the start of production and sales scheduled for late 2019, however developmental delays and financial troubles repeatedly pushed back the launch. In June 2020, the company decided to suspend operations for corporate reorganization for a planned six-month period. In 2021, Byton entered bankruptcy and work with manufacturing partner Foxconn was halted indefinitely.

History

In 2016,

Tencent Tencent Holdings Ltd. () is a Chinese multinational technology and entertainment conglomerate and holding company headquartered in Shenzhen. It is one of the highest grossing multimedia companies in the world based on revenue. It is also the w ...

, together with

Foxconn Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd., trading as Hon Hai Technology Group in China and Taiwan and Foxconn internationally, is a Taiwanese multinational electronics contract manufacturer established in 1974 with headquarters in Tucheng, New T ...

and luxury-car dealer Harmony New Energy Auto started a new joint venture called Future Mobility, a car startup that aimed to sell all-electric fully autonomous premium cars in 2020. The company was co-founded by Carsten Breitfeld,

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

, and Daniel Kirchert, president. It was a subsidiary of China Harmony New Energy Auto Holding Limited. In January 2017, the company announced its first manufacturing facility would be located in

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

, China at a cost of US$1.7 billion and an initial production capacity of 150,000 cars. Around 2017, Future Mobility was renamed to Byton. In 2018, Chinese state owned

First Auto Works China FAW Group Corp., Ltd. (First Automobile Works) is a Chinese state-owned automobile manufacturer headquartered in Changchun, Jilin.

invested a “significant amount of money” into Byton. In April 2019, CEO and co-founder Carsten Breitfeld left Byton in order to pursuit other opportunities. Fellow co-founder Daniel Kirchert subsequently assumed the position of CEO. Breitfeld later revealed that he had left Byton over the active interference with the company by the Chinese government through FAW. In April 2020, the company furloughed about half of the 450 employees who worked at its North American headquarters. In June 2020, the company decided to suspend operations for corporate reorganization for a planned six-month period. On September 9, 2020, Nanjing Shengteng Automobile Technology Co, Ltd. was established as the new owner of the brand. FAW Equity Investment (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. continues to hold 23.333% of the shares in Byton, Duan Lianxiang holds another 6.6667%. In October 2020, it was announced that CEO and co-founder Daniel Kirchert had left the company due to its continued financial troubles. In January 2021, it was announced that Taiwanese manufacturer

would enter into a strategic partnership with Byton. Foxconn planned on investing US$200 million into Byton. Foxconn was expected to assist Byton with manufacturing and supply chain management. In April 2021, Byton's German subsidiary entered bankruptcy. In July 2021, Byton suspended operations in China. In September 2021, Nikkei reported that Byton's manufacturing partner Foxconn was putting the project on hold due to continuing financial issues at Byton, effectively putting operations on hold indefinitely.

Products

The company announced its ambition to launch three electric car models by 2022.

Byton M-Byte

The

Byton M-Byte The Byton M-Byte was an all-electric battery-powered SUV 2018 concept car from Byton. Overview The Byton M-Byte was publicly unveiled at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show. The car was originally called the Concept, however, this was revised ...

is an all-electric battery-powered SUV concept car. It was first announced is the mid-sized Byton crossover, but only in concept form, with sales expected to commence in the fourth quarter of 2019 in China, Europe and the US. It was unveiled at the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

on 7 January 2018.

Byton K-Byte

The

Byton K-Byte The Byton K-Byte is an all-electric battery-powered sedan concept car by Chinese-German company Byton. It was publicly unveiled at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show Asia CES, but neither the Byton K-Byte or M-Byte was manufactured due to the ...

is an all-electric battery-powered sedan concept car. In June 2018, Byton unveiled the Byton K-Byte Concept sedan at CES Asia previewing a luxury electric sedan.

References

External links