Another day, another Apple Car related rumor. This time, a Wall Street Journal report claims that Kia has approached a number of potential partners for manufacturing the Apple Car in Georgia which would involve a multibillion-dollar investment.
The report also states that Hyundai is in talks with Apple about investing more than $3 billion so that its subsidiary Kia would start building the Apple Car as soon as 2024. Initially, the agreement between the two companies would involve assembling 100,000 vehicles in the first year in Georgia.
While the deal between Hyundai and Apple is not yet finalized, both Hyundai and Kia are currently talking with potential partners and have been “hearing encouraging things.”
Another report from Japanese publication Nikkei claims that Apple is in talks with at least six carmakers over Apple Car. Analyst Tatsuo Yoshida from Bloomberg Intelligence believes that Japanese automakers like Toyota and Honda are too busy with the development of their own electric vehicle and autonomous driving technology that they are unlikely to partner with Apple. Nissan or Mitsibushi do have idle resources so they might sign a deal with Apple.
A lot has leaked about the Apple Car in recent weeks. A CNBC report detailed that the first Apple Car will be designed to not have a driver and that it will be a fully autonomous electric vehicle. The first version of the Apple Car will be based on Hyundai’s E-GMP platform that is currently rated to offer 310 miles of range and can charge from 0-80% in just 18 minutes.
One thing is clear for now though: the Apple Car is in the early stages of development and irrespective of which company Apple chooses to partner with, it is not going to see the light before 2024 at the earliest.
[Via Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg]