New of Apple developing an electric car just won’t go away. Now, South Korea’s Hyundai has revealed it is in early talks with Apple to develop an electric car.
“We understand that Apple is in discussion with a variety of global automakers, including Hyundai Motor. As the discussion is at its early stage, nothing has been decided,” said Hyundai Motor, speaking to CNBC.
According to a recent Korea Economic Daily story, it was Apple that initiated the idea with Hyundai about building an electric vehicle and battery production. The South Korean company was reviewing the terms, which noted an Apple car could debut in 2027.
After realizing it had spilled the beans, Hyundai issued a revised statement to omit any mention of Apple, telling CNBC, “We’ve been receiving requests of potential cooperation from diverse companies regarding development of autonomous driving EVs, but no decisions have been made as discussions are in early stage.”
Nevertheless, news of the Apple car talks sent Hyundai’s stock price soaring 23%.
On Thursday, Bloomberg reported Apple’s autonomous electric car plans were underway, with teams working on interior, exterior and self-driving systems. Engineers included dozens of former Tesla employees in the iPhone maker’s vehicle efforts, which could still change.
The timeline for any Apple car release is still at least 5 years away, which seems like an eternity, considering how fast EV innovation is happening at this moment in time.
Apple is the world’s largest company in terms of market cap and has a huge war chest of cash, so it does have the resources to pursue an electric vehicle. But to release a car in 5-7 years? It will be interesting to see if it can be done.
