Dyson Gets Swept Up in Electric-Vehicle Revolution
The company’s investment in cordless technology puts it in a unique position to take advantage of its supply-chain expertise.
Plugged in.
Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg
Dyson Ltd. has selected Singapore as the manufacturing hub for its first electric car. It’s a significant move in a number of ways: Dyson doesn’t yet make automobiles; it will base production in a city where no automobile manufacturing plants currently exist; and Singapore has a population of only 6 million and isn’t much of an auto market. But founder James Dyson’s comments — and the company’s product paths to date — could hint at the future of electric transport.
My first thought: Labor costs don’t seem to matter that much to the company. Singapore is hardly cheap, and if the priority was to be in Asia but not China, then other countries in Southeast Asia would fit that bill.