After test-driving the Byton SUV during the Beijing Auto Show in April, I had a feeling that the car was vying for the definition of the next generation of intelligent electric cars, but I couldn’t find a firm foothold.
It wasn’t until the Byton press conference on June 12th that I had the opportunity to ask founder and CEO, Dr. Carsten Breitfeld, a question: after leaving BMW, which emphasizes driving pleasure, how does Byton balance the power and comfort of their products?
Dr. Breitfeld’s response was that Byton aims for a 20% focus on power and 80% focus on comfort.
With this answer, my biggest doubts were resolved.
The Key Conflict: Driving vs Riding
The greatest contradiction in defining the next generation of automobile products lies in the relationship between driving and riding.
This is the distinction between the muscular appearance and spaciousness of the product’s exterior, the size differences of screens, and the contradiction of vehicle ecosystems, in which Byton’s signature large screen has caused the most conflicting opinions.
Dr. Breitfeld mentioned that traditional automakers develop products with a driver-centric approach, which is not conducive to their smooth transition in developing the next generation of intelligent electric cars. While I’m not sure about the latter part of his response, the former can be seen in how Jaguar emphasized that the I-PACE is still a Jaguar, how Mercedes-Benz emphasized that the EQ is still a Mercedes-Benz, and how BMW is struggling to inherit power performance on the same platform for new product development.
In the definition of the driving and riding relationship for the next generation of products, Tesla has already taken the flag for the highest electric vehicle power performance. After all, the owner of Tesla, Elon Musk, would install ten rocket boosters on a sports car under extreme pressure. NIO closely follows Tesla, but might be susceptible to being caught in a state that binds public opinion and products deeply in Tesla’s shadow.
Byton’s wisdom lies in going around this obstacle. It can make a car that accelerates quickly, but it doesn’t emphasize it in the marketing strategy. This reminds people of the long-standing saying in the gasoline-powered car industry: “Drive a BMW, ride in a Mercedes-Benz.” In the electric car industry, perhaps Byton is hoping to take over the right-hand seat of those who “Drive a Tesla, ride in a Byton.”
Can Byton take over this right-hand seat?
During the BYTON K-Byte Concept debut event on June 12th, we conducted a small experiment by inviting several Tesla owners to join us in the on-site activities and chat with them about their opinions of BYTON. These car owners come from various industries like finance and the internet, and some of them are even loyal fans of Elon Musk.
In addition to the on-site car owners, we also hosted a WeChat live streaming group two hours before the BYTON event, and within ten minutes, the group members exceeded 100 (with proof in the picture), showing strong curiosity among the audience.
In the following content, I will highlight the main points of discussion from both the on-site activities and our WeChat groups, with a focus on the opinions of the on-site participants, and strive to realistically reproduce the discussions, both online and offline.
This doesn’t seem to be a car designed for car enthusiasts
Mr. J at the event suggested that this doesn’t seem to be a car designed for car enthusiasts. Elon Musk’s every press conference always emphasizes how fast their cars are, but BYTON’s chief designer specifically said they don’t want to emphasize horsepower. They focus on the technology and how the car fits into people’s lives, but my concern is how difficult it is to find nearby restaurants and other life functions.
When discussing the balance between power and comfort, Mr. J mentioned that he thinks the driving experience and riding experience are both important, but he still finds driving a Tesla more comfortable. He usually drives in standard mode, not easy mode. Before buying a Tesla, he had not liked any car brands in a long time, except for his love of Audi ten years ago.
Mr. D denied the question we set, he likes the luxury of Mercedes, but he believes that most car owners cannot feel the difference between Mercedes and BMW, it is just exaggeration from the brand. He emphasized that he usually drives in standard mode, and his family rides comfortably because of the proper throttle control.
After carefully reviewing BYTON’s technical parameters, Mr. C commented that BYTON has done a good job in balancing range and acceleration, and speculated that BYTON’s acceleration time should be around 5-6 seconds.The production version of the future BYTON car will provide two versions: the rear-wheel drive version adopts a 71kWh battery pack with a range of 400 km, and the four-wheel drive version adopts a 95kWh battery pack with a range of up to 520 km. It takes only 30 minutes to charge to 80% of the battery capacity in fast charging mode. In terms of power, there are two versions available: the rear-wheel drive single motor with 200 kW (400 NM torque), and the front and rear dual motor combination with 350 kW (710 NM torque).
Driving and riding are the first conflict points. BYTON deliberately does not emphasize its performance when highlighting its intelligence, which is also very rare. Two days ago, Xiao Kang also mentioned this point in the article. BYTON President Daniel Kirchert said that excellent performance is the foundation, but not the core of BYTON.
What is the core?
Acceleration speed is not important. I want an effortless car.
When observing the new generation of car power performance, we find a feature that the evaluation of driving experience for a car is no longer limited to the speed dimension from start-up and idling to acceleration and the ground dimension of road surface bumps but now includes the road scene dimension of red-green light turns, traffic jams, highways, and even highway cloverleaf.
I want a car that accelerates quickly at start-up, is stable when turning, you don’t need to worry about traffic jams, it can automatically follow and turn at high speeds, and it can automatically park when parking.
Do you see it? This is the complexity of power experience brought by multi-dimensional scenarios.
This is the change brought by the gradual popularization of advanced driving systems. From L3 to L5, the amount of time the driver is freed up determines how deep the development of the vehicle ecosystem will be. Automatic driving and the vehicle ecosystem are closely related. In other words, the ability of automatic driving is closely related to the depth that the screen can carry.
Mr. D mentioned that most people’s discussion of driving experience is nothing more than the speed of acceleration. In the future, any electric or hybrid car can meet these needs. What I want most is an effortless car. In the past, when there was no Autopilot, resting was required after driving 200 km on a long journey. Now, if it’s not for eating, drinking, or going to the bathroom, you can continue driving for 400 km.
Mr. J, who also chose to install Autopilot, fully agrees with this. In a phone call with J after an event, J said, “Can you hear me? I’m talking to you with Autopilot on, it’s not a problem.”
After the BYTON K-Byte Concept was unveiled, the discussion around BYTON shifted to the time applications for the L3 and L4 versions of the two cars, whether lidars can be mass-produced at high costs, and which one, lidar or visual route, is more in line with the development trend of future technology.
Aurora team, which has some experience in the field of autonomous driving, believes that it is reliable for Byton to cooperate with the Aurora team.
The large screen on a Byton car is like the falcon wing doors on a Model X, attracting attention despite controversy
Mr. E, who participated in the WeChat group discussion, loves screens on vehicles, and thinks the more the better. He is one of the few supporters who is very firm on both the size and quantity of screens on a vehicle.
The screen is too big? When buying a Tesla, the large screen and falcon wing doors were what attracted people’s attention. Aren’t the vehicle’s features designed to attract people’s attention?
Even if the screen is too big to watch movies? Whether you watch movies or not, at least the navigation image has become larger, which provides better visual effects.
Is it tiring to watch movies on the rear screen? It would be great if the rear seats could watch movies. If it’s not possible, increasing the sense of luxury inside the vehicle is also an option.
What if you are driving at night? Tesla screens have a cleaning mode that can make the screen completely black after a single click.
To be honest, the official explanation given by Byton is not as straightforward as Mr. E’s series of support for the screen.
Byton’s large screen and laser radar make people either like them strongly or oppose them outright. The focus of the problem lies in that it makes you easily remember this brand, but at the same time it raises a question mark, which seems a bit too flashy.
But, people often forget that when we buy vehicles most of the time, we buy a lot of redundant features, such as the rarely used rear seats, long-range mileage that is necessary for long-distance driving, sunroofs that are used less than once a year, and so on. Even when the Model X was just launched, the falcon wing doors were criticized for being over-designed.
It’s just that when this redundancy occurs on the screen, it creates a process for users to accept it.
As for the evaluation of the appearance of Byton, everyone has their own views. Some support the appearance of the first SUV, some support the appearance of the second car, some like the side waistline, and some feel that the design of the appearance is not simple enough. I hope the owners can have a good fight on this issue. Oh, by the way, the recognition of the headlights is still very high, the lighting factory can work harder.
If ranking Tesla, Byton and Nio in terms of appearance, the survey results from owners show that Tesla, Byton and Nio are ranked in order. Everyone especially pointed out that the teams with overseas backgrounds still have certain degree of innovation in styling.
Hope that Tesla has more competitors and be cautious about the delivery time of new car manufacturers
As expected and unexpected at the same time, Tesla owners unanimously recognize that the trend of electric vehicles is the future and hope that Tesla can encounter more powerful opponents, which is good for the entire industry. To some extent, owners’ values are consistent with Musk’s. Tesla makes cars to promote the development of the entire electric vehicle industry, rather than monopolize the market.
Therefore, Tesla owners are more open-minded and accommodating when facing new electric vehicle brands.
In the face of Tesla’s production capacity dilemma and new car delivery delays, everyone remains calm about Byton’s proposed deadline for delivery at the end of 2019.
But what is the soul of Byton？
Compared with Nio’s high-performance, WM’s popular cars, and XPeng’s black technology, under the product soul of Byton, I see its small ambition to redefine the future driving experience.
Expanding a little bit beyond the existing comfort zone of a product, and then a little bit more.
If you think of the whole event as a feast, this is the glass of wine that is about to fall on the dining table.
There are stories only if there is wine, and the stories are just beginning.
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.