Sinclair Vehicles Ltd was a company formed in March 1983 by Sir

Clive Sinclair Sir Clive Marles Sinclair (30 July 1940 – 16 September 2021) was an English entrepreneur and inventor, best known for being a pioneer in the computing industry, and also as the founder of several companies that developed consumer electronics ...

as a focus for his work in the field of

electric vehicle An electric vehicle (EV) is a vehicle that uses one or more electric motors for propulsion. It can be powered by a collector system, with electricity from extravehicular sources, or it can be powered autonomously by a battery (sometimes cha ...

s. The initial investment was £8.6m, which came from the proceeds of the sale of some of Sir Clive's shares in Sinclair Research.

Barrie Wills Barrie is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada, about north of Toronto. The city is within Simcoe County and located along the shores of Kempenfelt Bay, the western arm of Lake Simcoe. Although physically in Simcoe County, Barrie is politically i ...

, formerly of the DeLorean Motor Company, was appointed managing director. The first (and only) Sinclair Vehicles production model was the single-seater

Sinclair C5 The Sinclair C5 is a small one-person battery electric recumbent tricycle, technically an "electrically assisted pedal cycle". It was the culmination of Sir Clive Sinclair's long-running interest in electric vehicles. Although widely described a ...

, launched on 10 January 1985. Larger models were planned, including the C15, a four-seater car capable of speeds of up to . The generally poor reception given to the C5 by the press and public meant that these models would never reach production. In August 1985, Hoover, the manufacturer of the C5, announced that production would be stopped due to a financial dispute with Sinclair Vehicles. The following month, Sinclair Vehicles were renamed as TPD Ltd. On 15 October 1985, it was announced that TPD were in receivership and the company entered voluntary liquidation on 4 November 1985.

References

Excerpt from ''Sinclair and the 'Sunrise' Technology''

{{motorvehicle-company-stub Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United Kingdom Electric vehicles introduced in the 20th century Vehicles Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1983 1983 establishments in England Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1985 1985 disestablishments in England British companies established in 1983 British companies disestablished in 1985

See also

References