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Eastward Ho! Brexit Backer Dyson Eyeing Electric Car Plant in Singapore

© AFP 2023Workers assemble electric cars in a factory in Zouping, east China's Shandong province on September 16, 2014
Workers assemble electric cars in a factory in Zouping, east China's Shandong province on September 16, 2014 - Sputnik International
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Electric vehicles are increasingly popular as governments worldwide drive forward plans to gradually phase out polluting gasoline and diesel cars.

British electric appliance pioneer Dyson, best known for its cordless vacuum cleaners, hand dryers and fans, is aiming to launch electric vehicles in 2021.
Dyson has picked Singapore as the site for its first electric car plant, sparking criticism of the company's Brexit-backing billionaire founder, James Dyson, for not investing more in British manufacturing.

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In an interview with Sputnik, Kevin Dowd, an Irish/British economist, having research interests in private money and free banking, monetary systems and macroeconomics, financial risk measurement and management, said that Dyson's decision has nothing to do with Brexit and that he is planning to continue to keep his research division in the UK.

“The decision to move the production of electric cars to Singapore is a complex one based on access to markets, supply chain considerations and the availability of the necessary expertise. And low costs, of course,” Dowd said. When asked why he chose Singapore and not another Asian country, Kevin Dowd said that Singapore is not just another Asian country like China, Taiwan, Thailand or Malaysia as it has an attractive business model and an impressive track record.

He added that potentially any other major UK manufacturer could transfer production to any of these countries or elsewhere.

“It’s all part of the natural economic process in which manufacturers move production to lower-cost locations. This is good for the countries concerned, but also good for the UK because it is part of the process by which the UK moves up the value chain and becomes more productive,” he noted.

Speaking about the way this could affect the UK economy, Kevin Dowd said that it could, but in the long term.

“In the short term, there might be adverse adjustment issues but as I have said, such relocations of manufacturing activity are a natural and beneficial process and have been going on for a long time.”

When asked if Britain would be able to find a replacement for EU markets in Asia after Brexit, Dowd said he didn’t think that Britain might lose markets post-Brexit.

“I don't think it will. But you have to bear in mind that for a long time now the UK's trade with the EU has been declining and its trade with the rest of the world has been increasing,” he observed.

“This is all to the good, and will continue regardless of the precise shape that Brexit takes,” he added.

READ MORE: China's Upcoming Transition to Electric Cars 'Will Benefit the Whole Economy'

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