CAN DYSON REALLY SUCCEED?
Dyson is not only planning to launch a car, the company is doing so completely on its own, constructing a new factory in which to build the car, powering it with battery technology no car maker has come even close to cracking and then following it up with a range of other models.
By the time of its 2020 launch, Dyson will be competing head-on with the industry’s biggest players, which all have highly desirable and viable electric cars of their own in production and the networks in which to sell them already established. Remember, the £2 billion investment is just for the car, before the selling of it is considered.
Unlike Tesla, Dyson will not have a head start on the competition. And even with its advantage, Tesla has never made a serious profit. Dyson’s investment will take years to recoup, and the firm will have to hold its nerve in the face of the huge losses the project will initially incur.
Yet the car industry offers enormous rewards.
Dyson says that if the car is a success, it will quickly dwarf the revenues made from the company’s vacuum cleaners and other products such as hairdryers, fans and hand dryers.
China will most likely be the biggest market for the car. In China, Dyson’s popularity is booming and the country is fully behind the adoption of the electric car. China is also used to new brands; the idea of a Dyson car might not seem so alien there.
It’s the solid-state batteries Dyson is promising to use that could be key to the project’s success, giving the brand a key differentiator.
Dyson has been developing its own battery technology for two decades and knows its way around a chemistry lab. Indeed, if it cracks the technology first, perhaps a future as a battery supplier could await too.