E-car maker Byton faces extinction

The Chinese company is closing its site in Munich.

Apparently, things aren't working out at Byton as recently announced. The Munich plant is to be closed - rent has not been paid for months now, Automobilwoche reports. Ismaning was last home to Byton's design and development center. But the Chinese group is said to have stopped paying. The CEO Daniel Kirchert is even said to have fled to Hong Kong. There is an arrest warrant against him from the Munich I public prosecutor's office for delaying insolvency, writes the BILD

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Apparently, no more money from China flowed into the start-up, because investors held back because of the Corona pandemic. Byton was hoping to raise half a billion dollars from Japanese and South Korean backers last year. But the funding round fell through. 60,000 vehicles of the SUV type M-Byte were already pre-ordered, writes t3n. The first cars were supposed to roll off the production line this year.Because of the burst financing round, Byton apparently could not pay the employees, writes BILD

. 70 people worked at the Ismaning plant. Worldwide, almost all employees were laid off. In addition to Kirchert, other top managers have apparently fled, the designer of the Byton prototype Benoit Jacob is also no longer there. But at least the car could survive. A new investor has stepped in and is preparing series production in Nanjing, China, with a new management team.