(Getty)
Dyson – yea, fancy vacuum manufacturer– has announced plans to open an electric car factory in Singapore in 2020.
The technology company last year revealed that it was developing a car that would tap its expertise with electric motors and rechargeable batteries and challenge the likes of Tesla.
Dyson already has an engineering and manufacturing footprint in the city-state, and CEO Jim Rowan said that its proximity to the large Chinese automobile market was a major factor behind the decision, while insisting that Brexit was not a factor.
Company founder James Dyson has been an outspoken supporter of the U.K.’s economic untangling from the European Union.
Much of the development work on the vehicle will be carried out at a new facility being built on a former military airbase in southern England. The British-based company is headquartered in the U.K., but doesn’t produce any of its products there.
Details on what type of car is in the works have not been revealed and remain a closely-kept secret ahead of its expected debut in 2021.
"Competition for new technology in the automotive industry is fierce and we must do everything we can to keep the specifics of our vehicle confidential," Dyson wrote to employees in 2017.