It does not look good for the Chinese brand Byton, which had big plans for Europe. The company would be as good as bankrupt and the CEO would have taken his bags.
Last summer, the first worrisome reports about Byton came out. Then we heard that the brand was halting production and was going to see how it should continue financially. The pandemic would have hit the fledgling company so badly that reorganization was needed to keep it afloat. That does not seem to have been entirely successful (yet). Bild reports that by the end of 2020, bigger problems have become visible at the company.
For example, Byton is said to have already left its European headquarters in Germany. The property stands according to Bild empty and the lease would have already been terminated. Another sign on the wall: Reportedly, the people who worked there accused CEO Daniel Kirchert and Byton of not paying salaries for months. Kirchert, previously employed by BMW, is said to have even left Germany and ‘fled’ to Hong Kong. The reason given for this: the German prosecutor has an arrest warrant for him because Kirchert would postpone Byton’s bankruptcy. According to ARD Byton’s attempts to get Chinese authorities to invest in Byton have failed and so it now seems over and over.
Is there still hope for Byton then? Yes, there would be a party that wants to take over and make a restart. Whether that happens and which party that is, remains to be seen. At least it looks worrisome for the time being and that is a bit of a shame. With the M-Byte, Byton created an interesting all-electric SUV, which was to be marketed here in Europe this year for a starting price of € 45,000 (without taxes). A 4.88 meter long SUV with a 72 kWh or 95 kWh battery pack, with 272 to 408 horsepower respectively and a WLTP range of 360 to 435 km. On the same basis was also the K-Byte in the barrel, a sedan. In December, sketches of a hatchback and a new concept car surfaced.