Shanghai (ZXZC)- BYTON, a Chinese EV startup, announced that Chad Harrison, former chief automotive engineer of Honda Research & Development Americas (HRA), joined BYTON as vice president of product-line management unit. Meanwhile, David Twohig, former chief automotive engineer of Renault's high-performance vehicle unit, was appointed as the startup's chief automotive engineer who is responsible for some core businesses like body structure and vehicle equipment, etc. 

According to public materials, Chad Harrion had been working at HRA before he joined BYTON. During his tenure as HRA's chief automotive engineer in the past five years, he led the team in accomplishing the R&D of Honda Odyssey, the most popular MPV model in U.S., which was nominated as the North American utility model of the year.

David Twohig had held the position as the chief automotive engineer of the high-performance vehicle unit in French automaker Renault. Under his leadership, his team developed the Alpine A110 which successfully brought the luxury roadster brand Alpine back to revival. Besides, he led the engineering team in developing the Renault ZOE that is currently the best-selling BEV model in Europe. Before that, he dominated the development of the first-generation Nissan Qashqai that has long occupied dominant shares in Europe's compact SUV segment.

On March 20, BYTON announced that the former managing director of Goldman Sachs China's investment banking division officially joined the startup as co-president who will be in charge of the capital market and investor relations' management. The company said Cheng's participation will strengthen BYTON's capabilities of financing as well as the capital and investor relations' management. 

At the 2018 CES (International Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas, BYTON unveiled its first drivable prototype that attracted a lot of attentions for the gigantic screen design. Besides, the startup's first production SUV model is expected to go on sale in the last quarter of 2018. Meanwhile, its sedan and MPV models will hit the market in 2021 and 2022 respectively.