Elon Musk seems busy sorting out the production problems of his Tesla models. Meanwhile, the Chinese competitors have presented something that might one day turn out to be a true rival to his coveted cars.
The Chinese unveiled a sport utility vehicle (SUV) at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, a car that will stand to rival Elon Musk’s Model 3 Tesla.
The Chinese electric prototype carries the name Byton and is slated to be put on Chinese roads by the end of 2019. The European launch is set for 2020. The price has been put at a preliminary $45,000.
The company that designed the vehicle is called Future Mobility Corporation (FMC), based in Nanjing. Investors such as Tencent and Foxconn have paid for the project. The head of FMC is called Carsten Breitfeld, who used to work for BMW. He has specialists on board who joined from Tesla, Apple and Google.
FMC said the car will have engines providing 270 to 540 horsepower and a reach of 400 to 520 kilometers. Face detection technology will prevent unwanted drivers from entering the car.
Some classic ingredients of a motor car have fallen foul of modern digital design. The steering wheel is still there, but the buttons and knobs have all gone. The driver instead has a giant touchscreen to direct his vehicle, using gestures or the Amazon Alexa voice-control assistant.
Tesla may have had a head-start, but with rivals emerging along the traditional motoring powerhouses, the Californian start-up firm will have to dig in if it wants to stay ahead of the pack.
