BYTON announces close of $500 million Series B funding, operation of Nanjing global headquarters

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- BYTON announced on June 11 that its Nanjing-based global headquarters started operation, together with the close of its RMB 500 million Series B funding, which included FAW Group, CATL and Tusholdings as investors.

The raised funds from the financing round will be mainly applied into the manufacturing of BYTON's first mass-produced model and the R&D of technologies.

Nanjing-based headquarters marked that BYTON is shaping a global operation deployment which is centered with Nanjing, China. Daniel Kirchert, president and co-founder of BYTON stated that BYTON's Nanjing-based plant was in the process of construction and the plant will help BYTON to launch its first mass-produced model at the fourth quarter of 2019.

What's more, BYTON will unveil its luxury sedan concept at CES Asia 2018 on June 13. It is said that the new model is a mid-size luxury sedan with simply-designed lines, autonomous driving functions and newly-designed C-pillar.

As BYTON's Nanjing-based headquarters started operation, BYTON has finished its deployment in core places worldwide. The global Nanjing-based headquarters will be BYTON's brain to be the global operation headquarters, as well as intelligent manufacturing and R&D center.

The silicon valley-based headquarters focuses on customer experience and the R&D of advanced technologies like autonomous driving, as well as the expansion and operation of the North American market. The Munich-based designing center mainly specializes in vehicle designing and product R&D.

BYTON's Nanjing-based plant is close to its global headquarters. With a total investment of RMB 11.07 billion, the plant is planned to have an annual production capacity of 300,000 units.

As is planned, the mass-produced BYTON Concept will roll off the production line at the fourth quarter of 2019, and its price will start from RMB 300,000.

Apart from the first SUV model, BYTON's second sedan model and third MPV model are expected to hit the market in 2021 and 2022 respectively.