Hyundai Motor Company was reportedly in talks with Apple about building the tech company’s first electric car, with a signed deal expected to be finalized as soon as March 2021.
On Thursday, Reuters reported that Hyundai’s executives were divided on potential hold-ups with Apple, citing the company’s traditional reluctance to outsource work to other companies.
In addition, Apple’s partners are typically sworn to secrecy, so news of the original talks between the two companies may be all the juicy details we can get until any kind of deal is signed.
Hyundai in ‘Early Stage’ Talks with Apple to Develop Electric Car https://t.co/2LpDUoLxyN
— TeslaNorth.com (@RealTeslaNorth) January 8, 2021
A Hyundai executive familiar with the matter said, “We are agonizing over how to do it, whether it is good to do it or not.” They continued, saying, “We are not a company which manufactures cars for others. It is not like working with Apple would always produce great results.”
In its Q4 earnings call earlier this week, Hyundai did not make mention of any details of the deal with Apple, or share whether it was still happening. Apple also declined to comment on the talks.
While they didn’t mention the deal, Hyundai and its company Kia both did report their best quarterly profits in over three years following the rumors of talks with Apple.
If Hyundai is actually going to be securing a deal with Apple, it doesn’t sound fruitful at the moment, especially when leaks reach the media. Apple is known for its secrecy and won’t be pleased someone at Hyundai is talking.
The project to build an electric car, originally codenamed “Project Titan” at Apple, has been generating tons of buzz on the internet in recent months, and whether Hyundai picks the project up or not, it’s safe to say that we’re in for a really cool product from Apple in the years ahead (like, 5-10 years).
