Editing Clive Sinclair (section)

===Sinclair Vehicles and market decline===
{{main|Sinclair Vehicles}}
[[File:Sinclair_C5_with_high_vis_mast.jpg|thumb|right|[[Sinclair C5]] electric vehicle (launched in 1985)]]
As Sinclair Research continued to be successful, Sinclair launched a new company, Sinclair Vehicles Ltd., in March 1983 to develop electric vehicles, using 10% of the capital generated by Sinclair Research and selling some of his own shares to fund the new venture. Sinclair had an interest in electric vehicles since the 1970s at Sinclair Radionics, and had been working with Tony Wood Rogers, a former Radionics employee, since 1979 to start developing prototypes of a new vehicle for the market.<ref>{{harvnb|Dale|1985|pages=151–160}}</ref> The company's only product was the [[Sinclair C5]] which launched in January 1985.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jan/11/sinclair-c5-goes-on-sale-archive-1985 | title = Sinclair C5 electric trike goes on sale – archive, 1985 | first1 = Roy | last1 = Harry | first2 = Peter | last2 = Large | date = 11 January 2018 | accessdate = 16 September 2021 | work = The Guardian }}</ref> The Sinclair C5 was considered a significant failure, having been developed without any market research. It was widely criticised and widely ridiculed for its high price, its toy-like appearance, lack of safety features and exposure to the elements, and the need for the user to pedal the vehicle up steeper hills.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20141209-sinclair-c5-30-years-too-soon | title = Was the Sinclair C5 30 years too early? | first = Jack | last = Stewart | date = 9 December 2014 | accessdate = 16 September 2021 | publisher = [[BBC News]] }}</ref> Whilst Sinclair had anticipated 100,000 C5's would be sold in the first year, only 14,000 units were produced and 4,500 sold before the C5 line was terminated in August that same year.<ref name="SundayTimes-15-Dec-1985">{{cite news|title=C5 – an electric dream fades|last=Brooks|first=Richard|work=The Sunday Times|date=15 December 1985}}</ref>

Another noted misfire for Sinclair was the Sinclair Research [[TV80]], a flatscreen portable mini television utilising a [[cathode-ray tube]], which took several years to develop, and by the time the TV80 was ready for market in 1983, the [[Sony Watchman]] had been released in Japan in 1982.<ref name="nytimes 1985"/> Furthermore, [[LCD]] television technology was already in advanced development to bypass the limitations of CRT. The TV80 was a commercial flop, only 15,000 units being produced.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/36027/Sinclair-TV80-FTV1/ | title = Sinclair TV80/FTV1 | publisher = [[The Centre for Computing History]] | accessdate = 17 September 2021 }}</ref> Despite these commercial failures, both the C5 and TV80 have since been considered products ahead of their time, with the C5 a precursor to the modern day electric car and the TV80 comparable to watching videos on smartphones.<ref name="guardian obit"/>

Sinclair continued to direct Sinclair Research as they continued the ZX Spectrum line of computers through 1983 and 1984 as well as launching the [[Sinclair QL]] (short for [[Paradigm shift|Quantum Leap]]) brand in 1984 intended to compete with business lines of computers from [[IBM]] and Apple but at about half their cost.<ref name="nytimes 1985"/> However, towards the end of 1984, the market for personal computers in the United Kingdom became cautious; Sinclair Research had entered into a small price war with Acorn Computers.<ref name="dale 1984-1985">{{harvnb|Dale|1985|pages=171–180}}</ref> The price drops meant that consumers saw these computers as more toys rather than productivity tools, and Sinclair Research missed its planned sales milestones for the 1984 holiday season. Into 1985, Acorn fell under investigation which propagated solvency concerns throughout the computer industry, including Sinclair Research. [[Robert Maxwell]], the owner of ''[[The Daily Mirror]]'' and ''[[Pergamon Press]]'', planned to help Sinclair Research through its £12 million acquisition via Pergamon's Hollis Brothers division, announced in June 1985.<ref name="dale 1984-1985"/><ref name="nyt-srl">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/06/18/business/sinclair-to-sell-british-unit.html|title=Sinclair to Sell British Unit|date=18 June 1985|work=The New York Times|agency=[[The Associated Press]]|url-access=limited|access-date=4 December 2009}}</ref> However the deal was aborted in August 1985 as Sinclair found an offer with the [[Dixons Retail|Dixons Group]] of only £10 million.<ref name="corphist"/><ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1985/08/10/business/hollis-pulls-out-of-sinclair-offer.html | title = Hollis Pulls Out of Sinclair Offer | date = 10 August 1985 | accessdate = 20 September 2021 | publisher = [[Reuters]] | via = [[The New York Times]] }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.thetimes.com/business-money/companies/article/1985-clive-sinclair-saved-by-dixons-as-guinness-closes-in-on-bells-5vc8smdznsp | title = 1985: Clive Sinclair saved by Dixons as Guinness closes in on Bell's | first = Richard | last = Brooks |date = 11 August 1985 | access-date = 20 September 2021 | work = [[The Times]] }}</ref>

The lack of funds for Sinclair Research and the failure of the C5 created financial difficulties for Sinclair. Sinclair Vehicles was placed into [[receivership]] by October 1985, and in April 1986, Sinclair sold the bulk of Sinclair Research to [[Amstrad]] for £5 million.<ref name="corphist">{{cite web |url=http://www.nvg.org/sinclair/sinclair/corphist.htm |title=Sinclair: a Corporate History |work=Planet Sinclair |access-date=30 April 2008 }}</ref> Sinclair Research Ltd. was reduced to an R&D business and holding company, with shareholdings in several spin-off companies, formed to exploit technologies developed by the company. These included Anamartic Ltd. ([[wafer-scale integration]])<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Ivor|last=Catt|title=Dinosaur Computers: Sir Clive|via=www.ivorcatt.org|magazine=ELECTRONICS WORLD|date=June 2003|page=49| url=http://www.ivorcatt.org/icrew2003jun_0003.htm }}</ref> and Cambridge Computer Ltd. ([[Cambridge Z88|Z88]] portable computer and satellite television receivers).<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.eenewseurope.com/news/farewell-clive-sinclair|title=Farewell Clive Sinclair|work=EE News|date=16 September 2021|accessdate=17 September 2021}}</ref>