Seres may not be a household name in the West, but it was actually founded in Silicon Valley a decade ago as SF Motors, before being rebranded and establishing itself in China. Now it’s in the middle of a dramatic revitalization, backed by a new ownership structure and a partnership with ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, to develop a new car.

 

Now, before you jump to the conclusion that you may soon be able to buy a car with TikTok branding and screens pre-loaded with the app to feed your doomscrolling obsession, the partnership is a little different. Seres will work with ByteDance’s cloud and AI platform, known as Volcano Engine, to create a car to be sold as an EV with a range extender.