Byton will be put into mass production and delivered by the end of 2019, but new car manufacturers are impatient and cannot eat hot tofu

While most new car manufacturers have announced mass production and delivery in 2018, Byton still insists on delivery in the fourth quarter of 2019.

Companies that have announced mass production and delivery in 2018 have all encountered some problems to varying degrees. For example, NIO’s intelligent system is not fully integrated, Xpeng Motors’ purchases from suppliers are less than 100 units, and WM Motor has been embroiled in battery quality disputes many times.

The industry is now gradually becoming calmer and no longer blindly pursuing early delivery. Instead, it focuses on whether car companies have fully completed the production and testing cycle of the car.

Among the new car-making forces, Byton is one of the most radical teams in the application of intelligent concepts. The 1.25-meter-wide LCD screen that runs across the center console is impressive with its visual verification, gesture recognition and other functions.

But at the same time, complex engineering and processes undoubtedly bring more challenges to R&D and production.

While most new car manufacturers are facing delivery difficulties, Byton has chosen to disclose in detail its R&D, production and testing progress.

According to Byton, the main factory is under construction and is expected to be completed and topped out in October this year. After the subsequent equipment is installed, the pre-production of the first SUV product M-Byte will be realized in the first half of 2019, and SOP will start in the fourth quarter of next year. The mass production of Byton's first product will also roll off the assembly line in the fourth quarter.

There has been no revolutionary change in the manufacturing process of the car itself. Therefore, Byton has not made any major changes in factory construction or even the production process, and has recruited a large number of traditional manufacturing talents for this purpose.

Currently, Byton's Nanjing manufacturing team has about 250 people, and is expected to grow to 350 by the end of the year. According to the plan, after the official start of production in December 2019, the above number of people will be expanded to 1,500.

In terms of R&D and supply chain, new car manufacturers are somewhat different from traditional car companies.

Suppliers of traditional car companies will actively find OEMs to promote their products, but in new energy car companies, the cooperation or procurement process for certain parts is the opposite. In many cases, new energy car companies need to take the initiative to find suppliers.

Unlike traditional car companies, the new car team pays great attention to digital research and development. In traditional car companies, the number of engineers working on electronics or software development is very small, accounting for about 10-15%. A large part of Byton's engineers are responsible for the cloud, user interface, user interaction and other software work of intelligent driving.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.