[Las Vegas, 5 Jan 2020] Today, BYTON and Marubeni Corporation announced a strategic partnership. Marubeni will become a partner in BYTON’s Series C financing. The two companies will also explore opportunities for further cooperation in a range of fields such as mobility services, energy solutions and overseas production and distribution.

(Photo source:  BYTON)

Dr. Daniel Kirchert, CEO of BYTON, said: “Based on our shared vision for smart cars and future mobility, we are pleased to have reached a strategic partnership with Marubeni Corporation. As a world-leading conglomerate, Marubeni Corporation has significant experience and resources in a variety of fields such as renewable energy and automobile sales. We will jointly explore the international market and provide users with future-oriented smart electric vehicles and mobility services.”

Hajime Kawamura, Chief Executive Officer of Machinery, Infrastructure & Financial Business Group of Marubeni said: “Under the current enormous change of automotive industry,  this investment and partnership with BYTON is an essential part of our styrategies in automotive business. We are very excited at creating a new mobility world with BYTON’s state-of-the-art technologies.”

BYTON’s Series C financing has now entered the final stage, with investors including the FAW Group and the Nanjing Municipal Government’s industrial investment fund. BYTON has concurrently been actively sourcing overseas capital. This cooperation with Marubeni is the second time BYTON has brought in an overseas strategic investor, after signing an agreement in September 2019 with South Korean auto parts maker Myoung Shin Co.

Recently, BYTON’s intelligent manufacturing base has also entered trial production, actively positioning for mass production. BYTON expects to start series production of its first model, the M-Byte, in 2020 and deliver it to the Chinese market before launching it in Europe and North America in 2021.