Singapore to lure more EV firms after Dyson's entry

The government aims to create EV clusters enhancing the capabilities of adjacent industries.

Bloomberg reports that the government is actively in talks with a number of green vehicle manufacturers following the earlier plan of British manufacturer Dyson to roll out its first EV unit by 2021.

Also read: Singapore's electric vehicle ambitions receive boost as Dyson enters fray

Singapore is pitching its connectivity to global markets through free-trade agreements, its high-skilled workforce and stringent protection of intellectual property, which is critical for the industry, according to the government agency set up to attract investments to the country.

“Hopefully they won’t be the only one we land,” Chng Kai Fong, managing director of the Singapore Economic Development Board, said in an interview, referring to Dyson’s plans. “We’re in active negotiations or discussions with a couple of others. The whole idea is to build clusters."

Earlier this year, UK's richest man, James Dyson, announced plans to relocate his company's headquarters from the UK to Singapore in recognition of the growing importance of Asia to its manufacturing business. A vocal backer of Brexit, Dyson’s move was met by dismay by Leave supporters but was largely hailed as strategic given the company’s ambitious £2b plan to expand beyond the manufacturing of hand dryers, air purifiers and vacuums and into the heated electric vehicle (EV) space.

“It’s much more of a capital game than a labour game,” Chng said. “That plays to our strength.”

Here's more from Bloomberg.

Reaching the people who run Asia's businesses is harder than it used to be.

Inboxes are crowded. Attention is short. The executives you most want to reach — the founders, CFOs, and operators who actually move budgets — are the hardest to find through the usual channels. If you're building a company, a category, or a reputation, you already know this.

We've spent twenty years building the room they read. Singapore Business Review is where senior decision makers in Singapore and across Southeast Asia come for business coverage they can't get elsewhere — in print, online, and in person at the summits and roundtables we host across seven markets.

If you have something these readers should know about — a point of view worth publishing, a product worth their attention, an event worth their time — we'd like to hear what you're trying to do.

Book a meeting

| Or download the media kit (PDF)

240,000 senior readers quarterly in print Top 1,700 Singapore companies reached

7 markets across Southeast Asia