Dyson is working on a premium electric car to go on sale in 2020, as the British technology group enters the motor industry at a time of intense change and disruption.
The company behind the eponymous vacuum cleaner and hand dryers has been working on electric battery technology for almost two decades. Over the past two years it has built an automotive team of 400 engineers, drawn from manufacturers including BMW, Aston Martin and Tesla, and is preparing to use its research to give it the edge in a ferociously competitive sector.
“We know this is a crowded market,” said founder James Dyson as he announced that the company would spend £2bn on the car and battery technology. He also predicted that the automotive business would outgrow the rest of the company “quickly”.