Byton launches showroom featuring virtual reality

Electric car startup Byton unveiled its first showroom, called Byton Place, on Friday in Shanghai, giving customers a glimpse into the intelligent lifestyles it champions in an era of new mobility.

Unlike traditional dealerships focused on display and sales, Byton Place set up four functional zones to present their technology and allow customers to experience them through virtual reality and augmented reality simulators.

The startup announced it will adopt a hybrid direct-sales model and make use of mobile applications, WeChat, their own website and offline channels, such as Byton Places and service centers to provide sales and after-sales services.

Carsten Breitfeld, CEO and co-founder of Byton, said: "The opening of Byton Place Shanghai is a new milestone for us."

"We are now pushing forward our work in products, mass production and sales as well as services, and are striving to achieve deliveries of Byton M-Byte, our first production vehicle, on schedule," he said.

According to the company, the second Byton Place will be opened in Chongqing by summer.

A total of 25 to 30 offline stores will be launched by the end of this year in first and second-tier cities in China, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou in Guangdong province and Shenzhen as well as other cities.

Byton will also open stores in North America and Europe in the future.

Breitfeld said that Byton has three core advantages to distinguish itself from other auto startups: unique design, attention to user experience and the Byton vehicle being produced to the highest global quality and safety standards.

Early this month at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the United States, Byton unveiled the new design details of the M-Byte model, which retains an iconic 48-inch screen that wowed the public when first revealed.

The model plans to make its debut in the middle of this year and begin production in Byton's Nanjing plant, Jiangsu province, by the end of 2019.

Daniel Kirchert, president and co-founder of the carmaker, said that people intending to buy can register on their website and app. "Till now, there are more than 40,000 orders in the reservation app. We are glad to find that half of them are from China and others are from the US and Europe," he said.

According to Byton, the five workshops of the Nanjing intelligent manufacturing base have completed construction and are now installing equipment.

With the promotion of a sales and service system, Byton is prepared to deliver high-quality models, the company said.