Dyson drops electric car project and turns to solid-state batteries
By Caoimhe Toman
Date: Friday 11 Oct 2019
(Sharecast News) - Dyson said it's dropping its electric vehicle project after deciding it could not make the car commercially viable or find a buyer.
The company said in a statement Thursday that its automotive team had developed a fantastic car but decided to close the project, after failing to find a buyer for the car and determining that it would struggle to make it commercially viable.
The project was announced in September 2017 with the car set to be launched by 2020.
Dyson started the construction of a manufacturing facility for the car in Singapore which was scheduled for completion in 2020.
Dyson's £1.1bn of Ebitda in 2018 gave the vacuum cleaner-maker the financial headroom needed to invest in its electric car business, but fierce competition from companies such as Tesla and Volkswagen made it hard to stand out from the crowd.
Volkswagen announced plans to invest $52bn in electrification as it targets production of at least 2.0m electric vehicles a year by 2025.
Dyson said on Thursday that it was still committed to Singapore and that it would continue its £2.5bn investment program into new technology including the manufacturing solid-state batteries.
James Dyson, founder of the company said: "Our battery will benefit Dyson in a profound way and take us in exciting new directions.
"Since day one we have taken risks and dared to challenge the status quo with new products and technologies," Dyson wrote in the statement.
"Such an approach drives progress, but has never been an easy journey - the route to success is never linear. This is not the first project which has changed direction and it will not be the last. I remain as excited about the future of Dyson as I have always been; our ambitions have never been higher, our ability to invest has never been greater, and the team has never been stronger."
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