Volkswagen is not concerned by any Apple plans for a passenger vehicle that could include the iPhone maker’s battery technology, CEO Herbert Diess said.
Browsing: Motoring
South Korea’s Hyundai said on Monday it is now not in talks with Apple on autonomous electric cars, just a month after it confirmed early-stage talks with the tech giant, sending the automaker’s shares skidding.
Kia Motors jumped as much as 14.5% after a local media report that Apple will invest the equivalent of $3.6-billion as part of a collaboration with the Korean car maker on making electric vehicles.
Ford will plough over $1-billion into a plant in South Africa – its biggest-ever investment in the country – as the car maker scales back in other regions including Brazil and Europe.
US President Joe Biden has vowed to replace the US government’s fleet of roughly 650 000 vehicles with electric models as the new administration shifts its focus toward clean energy.
Israeli company StoreDot has manufactured the first battery for electric vehicles that can be charged in just five minutes, a step toward making refuelling as fast as cars at a petrol station.
If Apple is going to make a success of its car project, it has to target the $230-billion luxury automobile market. But displacing 125-year-old incumbents like Mercedes-Benz won’t be straightforward.
Hyundai said on Friday it was in early talks with Apple after a domestic broadcaster said the firms were discussing an electric car and battery tie-up, sending Hyundai shares surging 25%.
It was kind of inevitable that Tesla’s biggest challenger wouldn’t be a car company. Apple makes for the perfect nemesis and could teach its Californian cousin a thing or two about reliability and delivery.
Apple is moving forward with self-driving car technology and is targeting 2024 to produce a passenger vehicle that could include its own breakthrough battery technology, people familiar with the matter said.