Specifically, London, which must rank as one of the world's most expensive places to manufacture a product. They could trim quite a bit of cost by moving the operation to, say, Glasgow.
There might be a little outfit operating out of a shed in Gaungzhou that doesn't have a clue, but otherwise, let's be realistic. Secret jigs, fixtures and processes? What Brompton is doing - cutting, forming and brazing carbon steel parts - is 1890s bicycle technology. An engineer from Raleigh's Nottingham factory of one hundred years ago could tool up and build 'all steel' Bromptons by the train load.
Actually, Andrew Richie said the same thing in the beginning. He wasn't doing anything that anybody can't do. When he was handed a prototype of a folding bike in the beginning, he thought he could do a better job. And he did! It took time, but he did a better job! His penchant for details, precision, and fine tuning the same bike, incremental improvements that improve the riding experience is what sets him apart. Now with the new CEO process and manufacturing improvements where human labor and automation is matched to a tee is something that most don't consider as improvements, but do actually a competitive advantage. Add to this JIT (Just in time) inventory, outsourcing non-critical parts, do add to its advantage.
In truth, anybody with a decent welding skill or an analytical mind can duplicate the Brompton. One can borrow or buy Brompton and reverse engineer it. The patents have expired, the design is simple. The question is - why hasn't anybody duplicated it and done a better job?
What the Brompton has shown, is that it's not a matter of copying their bike and just undercut them in price by producing them in a low labor country will be the formula to supplant the Brompton. It would indeed take innovation, even if not apparent to many, to give one the weapon to subdue the Brompton.
IF one is familiar with Michael Porter's work on competition and competitive advantage, he wrote that there are 3 basic areas one can compete in to gain an advantage, 1) cost, 2) differentiation, 3) segmentation. Not mentioned is a combination of all 3. Brompton decided to compete on the basis of differentiation and segmentation. The basis of differentiation is not just their design which anybody can copy, but in Quality and a positive and sustainable user experience. And they segment their bikes as only a 16" folding bike. Cost is the least of their concern.
One can argue and complain that their bikes cost a lot, but one cannot argue that they are successful at what they do. Do they want to access more markets? Sure. They have made that clear, especially the USA market. But they are not going to do that by lowering quality, or rushing things. They, as they have in the past are going to do it the Brompton way. Slow, Steady, Sure.