DYSON have promised the people of north Wiltshire that the company’s Hullavington base still has a ‘bright future’, following the announcement that its plans to build an electric car there have been scrapped.

The campus at Hullavington Airfield has had more than £200m invested into it since Dyson decided to base its automotive division there in 2017. Now the firm has assured locals the land and its workers will remain part of the Dyson empire.

The automotive sector at Hullavington employs 498 workers of the 523 worldwide who helped produce the company’s electric car prototype, and whose jobs are under threat following the closure announcement.

A spokesperson said: “Hullavington still has a very bright future in the plans of Dyson.

“Following the decision to stop the automotive division, the business is set to expand its Home sector next year.

“This will make a lot of new jobs and roles available to those who worked in the automotive division, who also have transferable skills.

“Hullavington will still be a hub for research and development. Our £200m investment into the site in the past years shows our commitment to our state of the art site which is the perfect location for us to supercharge our Home projects next year.

“It’s a very exciting space for us to continue our work.”

Chairman of Hullavington Parish Council, Maggie Bawden looks forward to continuing a positive relationship with the technology giants.

She said: “I think that Hullavington as a whole is working very well with Dyson.

“We have a number of workers at the site living in the village and I’ve had no reports of concerns so far. Everyone seems to be happy.

“Dyson provides regular updates to the parish council, telling us what their plans at the site are.

“I think he’s made a good decision to scrap the electric car. I have a lot of trust in Dyson and the decisions they make.”

Dyson have stressed they are committed to staying at their base in Malmesbury as well as Hullavington. Sir James Dyson announced to his 14,000 global workers last week in an email the news that plans to release an electric car were to be scrapped as they are not ‘commercially viable’.

n September 2017 Dyson announced it was working on a battery-powered electric vehicle and the first patents were published in 2019.

It’s not the first time the firm has scrapped a project for commercial reasons: in 2005 Dyson stopped making what had been hailed as a revolutionary washing machine, after they failed to make the expected profits.