Byton M-Byte and K-Byte

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palmermd

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I'm a bit more skeptical of Byton than Rivian, but they are also releasing their prototypes to the public at the LA Auto Show this week.

https://www.byton.com/#

Here is the first review I've seen of the car.

https://electrek.co/2018/11/29/byton-m-byte-electric-suv-test-ride-large-screen/

It will be interesting to see how the public reacts to such a concept. The massive screen has always baffled me. I thought they would lose it as they moved forward but it is still there in the design being shown today.
 
The first few comments on the Electrek article really rip into this "demo" in exactly the way it deserves.
Technological Velociraptor

So they brought a car without its own drivetrain, just to show off their screen... which ran a demo during the ride. What a joke. Was the demo made just to show how bad this stupid screen is? The poor driver seemed really embarrassed. Nice troll article.

PS: Cherry on top, fake engine sounds
daveman1

Exactly.
What's the point of offering rides in a fake car? This thing wins the smoke & mirrors award, hands-down.
I think Byton (horrific name btw) feels they need to put something out there.

The UX & design language is terrible... just a rolling distraction.
What's the point of the massive screen if it's driven by voice commands which are inherently about allowing you to keep your eyes on the road when you interact with the car.
 
I agree with the comments as well. This company is not ready for prime time. Unlike Rivian who showed a very polished vehicle that has been tested extensively. Byton seems to be all about the big screen and not much else. And even that does not show well when it is the only thing they are really showing.

Perhaps this showing was one of the investors trying to get some feedback on their signature feature.
 
http://www.autonews.com/article/20181203/OEM05/181209965/byton-bullish-about-2019-electric-suv-production

Some writer took them at their word that they will be in production in less than a year even though they have not shown their own car at any public event yet.
 
The real business is in using the car as a platform, and using the car to create a sales channel to sell digital content
- Carsten Breitfeld, CEO and co-founder of Byton
That explains the big screen. Ads!
 
Byton Presents Its Manufacturing Plant In Nanjing, China: Video
https://insideevs.com/news/373398/byton-manufacturing-plant-nanjing-china/

In older news from April 2019:
Electric car startup Byton loses co-founder and former CEO, reported $500M Series C to close this summer
https://techcrunch.com/2019/04/16/electric-car-startup-byton-loses-co-founder-and-former-ceo-reported-500m-series-c-to-close-this-summer/
Byton, the Chinese electric car startup, today announced that Carsten Breitfeld, the former BMW executive and Byton co-founder who had been the CEO and was most recently chairman, has left the company “to start a new adventure within the start-up industry.”
 
cwerdna said:
In older news from April 2019:
Electric car startup Byton loses co-founder and former CEO, reported $500M Series C to close this summer
https://techcrunch.com/2019/04/16/electric-car-startup-byton-loses-co-founder-and-former-ceo-reported-500m-series-c-to-close-this-summer/
Byton, the Chinese electric car startup, today announced that Carsten Breitfeld, the former BMW executive and Byton co-founder who had been the CEO and was most recently chairman, has left the company “to start a new adventure within the start-up industry.”

That news is so old the Dr Breitfield is no longer at that startup, but has moved on to Faraday Future.
 
BYTON Suspends Operations And Furloughs Employees, Future Is Uncertain
https://insideevs.com/news/431388/byton-furloughs-employees-future-uncertain/

Byton suspending operations for six months due to financial trouble
https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/30/21308389/byton-chinese-ev-startup-operations-suspended-furloughs
 
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/06/ppp-loans-to-tech-start-ups-bird-mixpanel-grindr-on-the-list.html (Here are some of the tech start-ups that took government payroll loans during the coronavirus crisis) mentions
"Byton, an electric vehicle startup, received between $5 million and $10 million in loans."

I wonder if that $ will be repaid in full...
 
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