Byton Opens 1st Store In China, Followed By 25 More Soon

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The global electric mobility startup Byton is announcing more on how it will sell its electric vehicles (EVs), including news of its first store in Shanghai, China, and 25 more stores to come.

Byton Sales Model For Its M-Byte

After a successful CES event where the startup announced being on target for production (not bad when it comes to startups), Byton is now announcing how it will sell its first EV, the M-Byte.

Byton Sales Model

It’s about time we dig into the juicer stuff with Byton, such as how the EVs are going to be sold — direct or dealerships — and what about the efficiency of vehicles filled with so many connected devices? While we can’t answer the latter just yet, Byton is opting for a hybrid model of direct and partner sales.

The hot news is that the mobility startup announced that its first retail store will be open to the public on January 20th in Shanghai — we will visit it later this year. But more interesting is that Byton says it chose a hybrid sales approach that relies on various channels, such as its Byton app (Android, Apple), WeChat, and, of course, its official website. It will also use call centers and offline channels to ease the purchases of its upcoming EVs at the end of the year.

The mobility startup also introduced its Byton Place, Full Function Byton Place, and the Byton Service Center for its sales-related services.

The Byton Place will be an online community space where potential Byton service users and buyers can understand more about the company’s mobile connected platform. It will also serve as a place to connect the Byton clientele and familiarize them with its user interface (UI) — an impressive multi-dimensional in-vehicle interface. This will also be a way to speak to the Byton management team directly.

According to Carsten, Dr. Breitfeld, Byton’s Founder and CEO:

“The opening of BYTON Place in Shanghai is another milestone for BYTON. This is a crucial addition as we now have product development, plant construction, as well as our sales and service models in full swing to achieve on-schedule deliveries of our first production vehicle, the BYTON M-Byte.”

Daniel Kirchert, President and Co-Founder, added:

“BYTON Place Shanghai is our first offline space to connect with our customer. It kicks off the official building of our hybrid sales model that combines direct-sales store with BYTON (Retail) Partner store and is part of our effort to put the customer at the center of everything.”

byton Byton Sales Model

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Byton Sales Model Bets On Hybrid Structure

One of the many talks I’ve had with the Byton founders and officers have been about how the startup will deal with the sales of its vehicles. The idea to sell directly is tempting, but it isn’t a panacea either. The hybrid approach had been discussed many times and I’m happy to see it come to fruition since it embraces the best of both worlds.

The hybrid sales approach will use its full suite of channels to deal with pre-sales services, sales, delivery, and after-sales needs. Byton is also opening a Byton Partner model that will have individually owned stores offer similar services Byton’s own stores will.

Byton On Target For M-Byte Production

It’s not often we hear startups announcing they are on target with their production dates, and we can only welcome this. Byton confirmed again that the M-Byte, its first EV, will debut mid-year with mass production at the end of 2019.

Byton also announced that there will be 25 more stores, including in Beijing and Nanjing. The launch of Byton stores in North America and Europe, we presume, will follow soon after.


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Nicolas Zart

Nicolas was born and raised around classic cars of the 1920s, but it wasn't until he drove an AC Propulsion eBox and a Tesla Roadster that the light went on. Ever since he has produced green mobility content on various CleanTech outlets since 2007 and found his home on CleanTechnica. He grew up in an international environment and his communication passion led to cover electric vehicles, autonomous vehicles, renewable energy, test drives, podcasts, shoot pictures, and film for various international outlets in print and online. Nicolas offers an in-depth look at the e-mobility world through interviews and the many contacts he has forged in those industries. His favorite taglines are: "There are more solutions than obstacles." and "Yesterday's Future Now"

Nicolas Zart has 572 posts and counting. See all posts by Nicolas Zart