Another piece of good news is coming from Byton. It has snatched up a distribution license from California, hinting that the company will soon sell cars in the US.
Byton doesn’t do anything halfway. That much is obvious by now. The company never shied away from gigantic work and its gargantuan Nanjing production facility is a testament to its ambition. I met Mark Duchesne, who is the Vice President of Manufacturing Operations at Byton, at the Frankfurt Auto Show earlier this year. What he had to tell me was impressive.
Welcome to the next issue of China x Cleantech, our September 2019 edition. For our full China × Cleantech history, stroll over to the “Future Trends” section of our website.
I’m still bullish on Byton, but with caution about the direction the company is taking. Although similar to the original target of delivering autonomous electric vehicles (EV) globally, the last round of investments gives more food for thought.
I’m a big fan of the Tesla Model Y. I’ve written about the Model Y’s 3rd row being the key to it becoming the best selling vehicle in the world, the Model Y beating the Lamborghini Urus (which is over 3 times the price), styling tricks that Tesla used to make an SUV looks like a performance sedan, and most recently Tesla cutting Model Y prices.
The electric car builders at Byton brought the production build of their fully electric M-Byte SUV to the Frankfurt Auto Show for its big reveal to the world. They only build EVs and they have no plans to do it otherwise because as they see it, battery-powered electric vehicles are the future. Here at CleanTechnica, we couldn’t agree more.
Byton took to the floor of the Frankfurt Auto Show this week to show off the production-ready version of the fully electric Byton M-Byte SUV. We loved what we saw of the M-Byte at the Los Angeles Auto Show in late 2018 and again in Las Vegas in January, but all of that had to be calibrated against the fact that it was not the production version.
The M-Byte uses batteries from CATL, one of the largest battery manufacturers in the world, and since CATL is an investor in only one car company (Byton), I don’t think it will leave the company starving for batteries like many manufacturers are when they have a hit on their hands. Although I plan to buy a Tesla Model Y, if this car comes through as good as it sounds, I might buy one as a second car.
BYTON has moved its M-Byte electric SUV a few steps closer to production this week with the reveal of the M-Byte body-in-white along with a few teasers of the production interior.
What a difference a few months make in the life of a startup. Byton has gone through a building storm that erupted a few months ago. A founding member walked away just as or just before investors stepped in and changed the course of Byton.
