The Byton M-Byte is an all-electric battery-powered SUV concept car from Byton. Byton is a Chinese-German all-electric vehicle automotive brand established in 2017 and incorporated in Hong Kong, co-founded by former BMW and Nissan Motor executives. Byton unveiled its first concept car to the public in January 2018. The Byton M-Byte was publicly unveiled at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show. The car was originally called the Concept, however, this was revised to M-Byte, when the K-Byte was unveiled. It has a 48-inch-wide video screen and will feature in-car gesture control technology. Mass production is expected in mid-2019 and arrival in the United States by 2020. It is expected to have a starting price of $45,000 and 250 mile range upgradable to 323 miles.
Designed in Germany, engineered in Silicon Valley, and manufactured in China, Byton’s first model—the 2022 M-Byte SUV—is a truly global effort that the upstart automaker hopes will make a splash in the premium EV marketplace. The M-Byte adds a competitive all-electric driving range and ground-breaking interior technology in the form of an absolutely massive 48-inch curved infotainment display that stretches nearly the entirety of the SUV’s dashboard. As with key EV rival Tesla, Byton’s sales pitch includes heavy mentions of self-driving features. Byton says the M-Byte should hit the market sometime in 2022. The M-Byte is a brand-new entrant in the compact luxury SUV segment and will be the first vehicle from all-new brand Byton to reach the market.
Besides being packed full of tech features, the M-Byte’s interior appears to be well appointed in stitched leather with metallic accents. Diamond-patterned textures throughout the cabin provide some visual punch, but the M-Byte’s party piece is the front seats. The rear seat can be optioned as a three-across bench or as two individual bucket seats divided by a tall center console with integrated cupholders. A giant, monolithic 48-inch infotainment display called the Byton Stage runs almost the entire length of the dashboard and provides access to the M-Byte’s entertainment, and telematics as well as serving as a gauge display for the driver. It will be by far the largest infotainment display ever used in a production vehicle when the M-Byte goes on sale. A tablet on the steering wheel and a duplicate touchpad on the center console allow both the driver and the front-seat passenger to interact with the display.
The M-Byte’s driving range will likely vary from model to model, as entry-level models will come with a 72-kWh battery pack while more expensive variants will offer a 95-kWh unit. Byton says the smaller battery pack can provide up to 224 miles of driving range on the global WLTP cycle; the larger 95-kWh battery is good for up to 286 miles. Either battery can be charged via 150-kWDC fast charging for up to 80-percent battery capacity in just 35 minutes; the M-Byte also will be able to charge at home outlets using either 110 or 220 volts. The M-Byte will be available with either a rear-wheel-drive or all-wheel-drive electric powertrain. Rear-wheel-drive models are powered by a single 268-hp electric motor, while all-wheel-drive models come with two motors and a combined horsepower figure of 402. Byton says the single-motor rear-wheel-drive setup is good for a 7.5-second zero-to-62-mph time but the dual-motor all-wheel-drive powertrain shaves two seconds off that time.
