James Dyson’s plan to (inventor of the bag-less vacuum cleaner with a large vacuum production already in Malaysia) build an electric car manufacturing plant in Singapore has upset a lot of Malaysians especially since the Malaysian government has clearly indicated a plan for a next national car project which will be electric of at least hybrid in engineering.
Dyson commented earlier this week that his decision was based on supply chains, access to markets and the availability of expertise, which offset the cost factor.
Dyson’s first reason was the very generous incentive schemes offered by the Singapore government with this project. There are tax breaks for 5-years, which can be extended, and grants that can cover up to 30% of the cost of projects to improve business efficiency. This will offset the high cost of labour and land costs.
Next, Singapore has an efficient shipping port where Dyson can roll his electric car off the production line in Singapore and within the hour it can be on its way to China or other sizable electric vehicle markets in ASEAN and even Europe.
Finally, Dyson already employs 1,100 people in Singapore, making 21 million digital electric motors a year and Malaysia’s automotive and engineering parts suppliers are very easily connected to Singapore via two road bridges making it easy to import, build and deliver the new Dyson electric car to customers in China and ASEAN nations within weeks.
Finally, there is a lot less government red-tape in Singapore with very transparent costs.
