DYSON ELECTRIC

England’s domestic auto industry is as moribund as the British Empire. Yes, you can still buy stylish Jaguars and hand-built Rolls-Royces, but technically speaking, none of these legendary auto badges belong to a Brit. For example: Jag and Land Rover, two of the U.K.’s automotive crown jewels, are owned by India’s Tata Group conglomerate.

Sir James Dyson wants to restore England’s automotive heritage. And more. The inventor of the Dyson Dual Cyclone, the bagless vacuum cleaner that brought him fame and fortune, has long been a one-man reindustrialization movement in the U.K. Which is also why he backed Brexit, the campaign to leave the European Union. “Britain needs to change, and we should have done so a long time ago,” he says. “We’ve ignored manufacturing, we’ve ignored engineering, and we’ve ignored technology.” Known for its appliances, his eponymous company recently announced that it will spend $2.7 billion to produce an English-designed electric vehicle to compete with Tesla, Toyota, GM, BMW, and anyone else.

Going from an outfit that. “Two and a half years ago, I started developing the car, and have so far built up a team of over 400 engineers.”