LONDON—Dyson Ltd., the British technology company known for its high-end vacuum cleaners and ubiquitous hand dryers, said Tuesday that it was developing an electric car to hit roads by 2020 or 2021.
The company’s founder, James Dyson, revealed few details about the vehicle, which will rival those of electric-car Tesla Inc. during a news conference at his company’s London store. He said it would neither be a sports car nor a cheap, mass-market one.
Big automakers have also piled into developing their own answer to Tesla, and have the deep pockets and long experience in the auto industry that give them a relative head start. But Dyson, a privately held company, has also made an international mark as a technology and design house that successfully fused innovative engineering and design to come up with fresh takes on everyday appliances like vacuum cleaners and hair and hand dryers, for which consumers have paid high prices. He promised to pour £2 billion ($2.68 billion) into his car effort.
Dyson said his company wouldn’t collaborate with other car makers and hoped to make an automobile distinctive in design and technology. “We want to do it ourselves,” he said. “There’s no point in doing one that looks like everyone else’s.”
Dyson said the company had been working on the electric-car project for 2½ years and has 400 employees dedicated to it so far. “We’re not a Johnny-come-lately,” he said.
