Where best to make electric cars – Britain or Singapore?
Last week the British vacuum cleaner manufacturer, Dyson, announced that they would manufacture electric cars in Singapore. This prompted a reaction from Singapore-based company Dendrobium arguing the case for manufacturing in Britain over Singapore.
Dendrobium seems to be unfazed by Brexit and said that their decision to manufacture their electric car in Britain was because Singapore ‘has no history or expertise in vehicle manufacture’.
Dyson claimed its move to Singapore was in search of superior expertise (we reported). However, since none of British company Dyson’s other products, such as vacuum cleaners and hand-driers, are made in Britain, this decision should not have come as too much of a surprise.
But Nigel Gordon-Stewart, CEO of Singapore-based company, Dendrobium Automotive, saw the need to argue the case for manufacturing in Britain saying to Motor1, “The British Government continues to do its best providing research and development tax credits and various grants specifically for EV and PHEV UK technology and product development operations.” He went as far to say, “In my opinion, Dyson’s planned manufacture in Singapore, seems very wrong.”
However, the appeal of manufacturing cars in Britain for Dendrobium is perhaps also another one: they will reportedly work with Williams Advance Engineering. This passion for British motoring excellence is also perhaps influenced by some allure from the motherland: Dendrobium Automotive Limited is an offshoot of a Singapore-based battery technology company Vandra Electrics and is thus technically also a British company. In addition, Dendrobium iis making a limited edition electric vehicle whereas Dyson is aiming for the mass market.
Nigel Gordon-Stewart went on to reinforce his belief in British quality, “British Engineering is, without doubt, the best in the world, and needs to be focused here in the UK to enable dominance in the biggest and most dramatic change in personal mobility in over 100 years.”
Meanwhile, only time will tell where and whether these new electric cars are manufactured best: Dendrobium ‘supercars’ in Britain, or Dyson electric vehicles in Singapore.
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