Byton Taps Former BMW, GM Exec as Chief Customer Officer

Chinese electric car startup Byton Ltd. has appointed Andreas Schaaf to the newly created position of chief customer officer.

Schaaf most recently headed the Chinese sales operations for General Motors Co.’s Cadillac unit. He joined Cadillac in 2015 as vice president of sales in Europe, after spending 19 years at BMW AG.

At Byton, Schaaf will oversee “customer experiences” across all sales and marketing channels, products and services. He also will work to implement “the voice of the customer” into future product development.

Byton was created in 2016 as part of Nanjing-based Future Mobility Corp. The company aims to launch its first model, the Byton M-Byte electric crossover vehicle, in China by the end of 2019 and in Europe and the U.S. in 2020.

More than 50,000 people worldwide have made reservations for the M-Byte, according to the carmaker. The vehicle will be built at Byton’s plant in Nanjing, China.