According to numerous reports (including one from Reuters), James Dyson — the British inventor of the bagless vacuum cleaner — has decided to build his new electric car in Singapore in order to be close to Asian customers, supply chains and a highly skilled workforce.
His company already manufactures products such as hair dryers, air purification systems and bladeless fans in Asia, although its research and development operation remains in Britain.
Last year, Mr Dyson said that a 400-strong British-based engineering team had been working for more than two years on a project to build an electric car, and while the designs for the vehicle have not been revealed, Mr Dyson has said it will not be like anything else on the market.
Dyson already employs 1,100 people in Singapore, making 21 million digital electric motors every year. The company said it would build a new two-storey manufacturing facility in the city state; this would be scheduled for completion in 2020, with the first cars rolling off the production line a year later.
Car manufacturers are stepping up their investment in electric vehicles in response to ever-tightening emissions restrictions and penalties on the use of internal-combustion engines, with some countries already promising outright bans.
Dyson is looking to exploit its capabilities in solid-state battery technology and electric motors.
Mr Dyson told reporters last year that his ambition to take on the car makers was triggered in the 1990s, when the industry dismissed his idea of using the cyclonic technology that revolutionised vacuum cleaners to clean diesel exhaust emissions.