Innovator Dyson opens NZ office
British manufacturer Dyson will open an office in New Zealand in May and says it could use the country as a test bed for future products, which are set to include electric vehicles.
The privately owned company rose to prominence in the 1990s after founder Sir James Dyson invented a line of vacuum cleaners that don’t require dust bags.
Dyson subsequently achieved another design revolution with its Airblade hand driers, which can dry hands in about 10 seconds, and now employs more than 10,000 staff worldwide.
The company has been represented in New Zealand by resellers, but last month registered an Auckland-based subsidiary, Dyson NZ.
Dyson’s Sydney-based managing director for Australia and New Zealand, Glenn Andrew, said the New Zealand business would initially employ about a dozen staff and Dyson was looking for recruits through its website.
The office would provide and sales and marketing support to retailers, but he hoped it would also smooth the path for Kiwi engineers who wanted to join Dyson at its research and manufacturing bases overseas.
‘‘We have gone from being a floor-care manufacture to being a true technology company.
‘‘With the broad range of new technology we feel now is the right time to forge a closer relationship with our retail partners.’’
Dyson would start selling its £300 (NZ$580) Supersonic hair drier in New Zealand this year and could in future use the country as a test bed for some new products and technologies, he said.
That would mean it could bring some new products to market in New Zealand first.
Sir James Dyson announced in October that the company planned to invest $4.8b developing an electric car, which it plans to launch in 2020, and said 400 engineers had been working in secret on the project for two years at its headquarters in Wiltshire in England.
Word on Dyson’s possible entry into the electric vehicle (EV) industry leaked a year earlier because of information supplied in relation to a British government grant.
The $4.8b spend-up will include research in battery, robotics and artificial intelligence technology.
Andrew said many details of the company’s EV plans were confidential but it would not be a ‘‘me too’’ player.
‘‘We have never launched a product that isn’t significantly different.’’
Dyson’s sales in New Zealand were up 20 per cent last year, he said.