The German subsidiary of Chinese electric start-up Byton has been ordered into insolvency by a German court.
Byton is one of the better-known electric start-ups to emerge from China in recent years and had established a subsidiary in Germany. However, the company has been going through a difficult period and in April, furloughed half of its employees in the U.S. According to a spokesperson for Byton GmbH in Germany, employees at the facility in Ismaning, Germany were also not being paid their salaries.
Read Also: Byton M-Byte Going Into Production Thanks To iPhone Maker Foxconn
In addition, local media reports in January alleged that Byton GmbH’s building in Ismaning had been empty for months as the lease was terminated. Ex-BMW manager Daniel Kirchert left his post as managing director and chief executive of Byton GmbH in July 2020 and the Chinese start-up failed to replace him, meaning no one was in charge of the German subsidiary.
Fast forward to April 20 and the Munich District Court ordered the provisional insolvency administration of Byton GmbH. Daniel Kirchert has been named as the debtor and Munich-based lawyer Michael Bauer will act as provisional insolvency administrator.
Electrive claims that Kirchert had been pushing for a possible insolvency of Byton GmbH in 2020 but management in China weren’t fond of the idea, prompting Kirchert to leave the company.
This news comes just three months after it was announced that Byton had entered into a partnership with iPhone maker Foxconn and the Nanjing Development Zone in China to bring the M-Byte into the production line by the first quarter of 2022.
