DYSON has announced plans to build electric cars by 2020.
The British vacuum cleaning firm will spend £2billion on the "radical and different" project.
The all-new model is being developed by 400 staff at its HQ in Malmesbury, Wiltshire.
Further work will take place at a nearby former RAF base with staff moving in next February.
A factory has yet to be chosen but the battery-powered car will be on sale after 2020.
Company founder Sir James Dyson told staff in an e-mail: "Competition for new technology in the automotive industry is fierce and we must do everything we can to keep the specifics of our vehicle confidential."
Dyson has had an ambition to develop an electric car since 1998 but was rejected by the industry.
Sir James also pursued car makers to fit cyclone exhausts to cut emissions in the 90s but was met with resistance