S’pore aims to lure more makers of green vehicles

Following Dyson Ltd’s plans late last year to manufacture its first electric car, here, the city-state is now in talks with other makers of green vehicles to set up shop on the island.

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,” said Chng Kai Fong, managing director of the Singapore Economic Development Board, 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.”

Bringing in other electric car manufacturers will create scale for the sector in Singapore, which is also spurring the development of autonomous vehicles in the country. The use of high-tech robotics and automation, as well as supply chain management and connectivity, could help dispel concerns on the high labour costs.

“It’s much more of a capital game than a labour game,” said Chng in San Francisco, where his agency hosted two technologyrelated conferences including the Bridge Forum.

Dyson, the closely held manufacturer of hand dryers and vacuum cleaners, said in October it planned to complete its factory by next year with the goal of rolling out its first model by 2021 as part of a £2 billion (RM10.74) effort to expand into automobiles.

Earlier this year, billionaire inventor James Dyson raised the stakes by announcing plans to relocate his company’s head office to here from the United Kingdom with the growing importance of Asia to its business.

Singapore doesn’t have a single car-manufacturing plant and is one of the costliest places in the world to buy an automobile. And not every electric carmaker is a fan.

Elon Musk tweeted in January that Singapore has been unwelcoming to Tesla Inc and the government was “not supportive” of electric vehicles.

BLOOMBERG PIC An employee testing the Dyson Supersonic hair dryer at the Dyson Ltd campus in the United Kingdom. The company aims to roll out its first electric car model by 2021.