General Motors will aggressively pursue an all-electric future after it announced 20 new electric cars coming by the year 2023. Two of them will arrive in the next 18 months. However, as the industry at large prepares for more battery-electric cars, GM will face a new rival.
Believe it or not, Dyson, the company best known for its bagless vacuum cleaners, announced it is developing an electric car and plans to have the vehicle ready by 2020. Right now, the UK-based company has 400 employees working on the program, and the project has drawn some notable talent.
Autocar reports the Dyson electric car team includes former Aston Martin and Tesla employees, including Ricardo Reyes, former Tesla communications executive. From Aston Martin, David Wyer joined Dyson as its head of procurement and Ian Minards left the British luxury-car maker to become product development director at Dyson. He held the same position at his former employer.
Dyson said $2.7 billion has been committed to the electric-car program, which indicates the appliance maker is very serious about bringing a vehicle to production. However, Dyson alluded it may be a premium electric car, rather than a mass-market offering.
In a broad description, Dyson said the car’s audience will be technology-oriented. With former Tesla and Aston Martin employees on board, it’s likely to be a premium car. GM’s luxury division, Cadillac, previously said electrification will become standard across the industry, though it hasn’t revealed plans for a purely-electric car.
Comments
Cadillac better get going on it’s luxury all-electric car soon, if it hasn’t already. I changed my mind about what type it should be. At first I thought it should be a sedan, but now I’m thinking it should definitely be a crossover not a sedan. Something close to the size of the old SRX. Crossovers are the most popular cars right now, so it would make sense for Cadillac’s first luxury all-electric car to be a stylishly modern crossover fully packed with the latest semi-automated driving features such as Super Cruise and it must have at least a 300 mile range.
We have 3 vacuums (used to have a dyson but not now), cannot say I get excited over white goods they are just used for a purpose. Domestic goods such as kettle, toaster, cooker, fridge, freezer & prius belong in the kitchen & are no way considered cars.
This isn’t smart branding. Dyson = revolutionary new design solutions for 5 time the old school competitor’s price
Where Dyson could make an interesting dent is in retrofitting petrol cars people already have
My Dyson products have really sucked!
If they stick to the plan of a modest volume of a high priced premium car they can do ok.
But the real issue would be to crossover to cheaper volume production would be as problematic as it has been for the rest.
Building cars is much more complex and expensive than a appliance. Much more regulation and cost involved.
I think a Dyson would benefit most by showcasing the ability of their electric motors and advancement in their model then offer to sell components to the automakers unable to do it them selves.
Think Intel. There is much more none and much less risk as a supplier in this segment. There is a great need by many mfg for better batteries and motors yet so few supplying.
I would not be surprised if GM may do a little supplying to as they have with transmissions and other component.