Byton reportedly talks to Foxconn about a cash injection. With a financial contribution of 77 million US dollars, the contract manufacturer could be decisive in ensuring that the SUV M -Byte of the Chinese electric car startup beginning 2020 will go into mass production, reports the business news agency Bloomberg and refers to initiated persons.

Byton ran into financial difficulties last year and closed its operations in July. In April 2020 the startup announced that it would sell half of its 450 to cut jobs in the USA. In March Byton had announced that its SUV M-Byte should be pre-orderable from the second half 2020. For the electric car, 65. 000 reservations have been made, 25. 000 thereof from Germany. The production plant in China has been completed and the Chinese government has given its approval. The coronavirus pandemic got in the way of Byton, with investors holding back their transfers. The company got a lot of attention from the beginning because it was founded by ex-BMW managers.

M-Byte from Byton – outside and inside (31 Pictures) Whether the balls were all in or should still be in, we don’t know.

(Image: Byton) Here Foxconn could step in, which, according to Bloomberg, is also talking to other electric car manufacturers about possible collaborations. According to the report, the Taiwanese contract manufacturer currently generates around half of its sales from Apple, whose iPhones it makes, and apparently wants to diversify its commitments. This also includes a cooperation with Fiat Chrysler announced a year ago. Foxconn has also developed a body and software platform that will help electric car manufacturers to quickly bring their own models to market.

(anw)