What is common between Byton, Nio, Lucid, Faraday Future or even HiPhi ? They were introduced at launch as future “Tesla killer” ! At that time, all these brands wanted to make a name for themselves in the niche of premium electric cars with a very long range. But you can’t become a car manufacturer overnight. Even if Tesla did, it still has more than a decade of know-how behind it. What these Chinese and American manufacturers do not have. Prototyping is one thing. Mass marketing is different.. Not to mention distribution network concretize, after-sales service / spare parts for development, financial decisions offer etc. In short, several of them are or have been struggling in recent months. Others, like Lordstown Motors, went bankrupt altogether. Another domino of electric cars is falling today: Byton.

A concept with ambitious characteristics

Founded in 2018, Byton is a Chinese automobile manufacturer who at that time had great ambitions. As evidence, former managers, engineers and designers of BMW, Tesla and even Alpine joined its ranks. His dreams were officially realized in the first year with a concept car called M-Byte concept, presented at CES in Las Vegas. This was to give rise to the series model of the same name, a large sedan/hunting station wagon is being recruited, and of course 100% electric. The project had a lot to tempt, we already talked about the power range up to 408 horsepowerand the range to 520 kilometers. Not bad ! Fast charging had to take up to 150kW to match Canon’s recharge time. Even beyond the technical aspect, exterior and interior design, as well as the quality of finish and equipment also had to play in his favor to be able to face the formidable Tesla.

End of Byton

Unfortunately, despite significant investmentwith Foxconn helpsdesign bureaus in the USA and Germany, the manufacturer multiplied the difficulties. Already in 2019, the company temporarily suspended its activities due to financing problems. At the same time, it dismissed a significant part of its staff. In 2020, it was declared bankrupt and was forced to cease operations. Hope returned in 2021 when Foconn announced its arrival in the capital. Then a Chinese industrial group (a subcontractor of Apple) planned to restart production and revive the brand. Of course, the goal was to release M-Byte, but also to offer production version of the K-Byte sedan. 3 models were to be presented by the end of 2022. Byton did not get upAND it has just been officially declared bankrupt in China. Goodbye Byton, Goodbye M-Byte, while you wait for other Chinese brands that are a bit dreamy?

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