Byton production to step up a gear

Electric car startup Byton is pressing ahead with the mass production of its first intelligent electric vehicle in China, as the nation has become the company's biggest and most important market.

China is the world's biggest intelligent electric vehicle market, and Chinese consumers have a strong demand for such vehicles and are very open to innovation or new things, which is completely different from Europe and the United States, Carsten Breitfeld, CEO and co-founder of Byton, said in an interview with China Daily.

The company's business is not so much about electric cars, as the technologies such as connectivity, artificial intelligence and autonomous driving give the company a chance to make the car smarter, according to Breitfeld.

Byton's first model, the M-Byte Concept, is a premium, smart and mid-sized electric SUV, which is expected to hit the market by the end of 2019.

"This revolution will not only change the products, but also the business model. In the future, the revenue will not only come from selling vehicles, but dealing with digital data and services. You use your car as a platform to create a sales channel for your customers," said Breitfeld.

He added the company will not develop a self-driving system by itself, but work with some strong partners, such as Chinese tech giant Baidu Inc, and as an intelligent electric vehicle manufacturer, it will be responsible for the fusion and integration of various intelligent systems.

"Autonomous driving will be the core technology of mobility in the future," said Breitfeld, pointing out that the new technology will reduce the number of traffic accidents dramatically, as well as traffic congestion, but it will still take some time to bring such technology into operation.

He noted that the car is going to be a smart terminal, like a platform, through which people could deliver content and digital services to customers.

The business model requires a different culture and pattern of thought, which is built on the electronic consumer products of internet companies. More and more car companies are working hard to create this way of thinking, which is a good opportunity for emerging companies, according to Breitfeld.

According to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, China produced 770,000 electric vehicles in 2017. The association said it expects sales of such cars in China to exceed 1 million this year.

In June, Byton completed series-B financing, which it used to accelerate its production, and research and development of China's first vehicle to feature an all-screen dashboard.

Byton is headquartered in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province, which is also home to its intelligent manufacturing base and one of several major R&D centers around the world.

Its European R&D center is based in Germany, and is responsible for designing prototype and concept models. The company's North American headquarters in Silicon Valley is focused on developing technologies for applications across the intelligent car user experience and autonomous driving.

The company's second concept vehicle, the K-Byte luxury electric sedan with autonomous driving capacities, was premiered in Shanghai, one day before the opening of CES Asia 2018.