Toys4RJill

Hyundai may be in talks with Apple about tech company's upcoming car

Hyundai backed away from a statement confirming it is in talks with Apple on developing a self-driving car that fueled an US$8-billion surge in the Korean automaker’s market value Friday, saying instead that it received requests for potential cooperation from a number of companies.

Revising its statement for the second time in a matter of hours, Hyundai said January 8 it had been contacted by potential partners for the development of autonomous electric vehicles, removing any reference to Apple.

Shares of Hyundai surged 19 per cent after Korean media initially reported on talks with the U.S. company, only slightly paring their gains after the statement confirming discussions was revised.

By naming Apple initially, Hyundai risks the ire of the technology giant known for its secretiveness when it comes to new products and partnerships. With development work still at an early stage, Apple will take at least half a decade to launch an autonomous electric vehicle, people with knowledge of the efforts have told Bloomberg News. That suggests the company is in no hurry to decide on potential auto-industry partners.

A cable TV unit of Korea Economic Daily first reported the discussions with Apple, saying Hyundai completed internal talks on the project and is awaiting approval from the chairman.

Following the report, Hyundai initially issued a statement saying that it is one of various automakers that Apple had been in early contact with. The Korean company then revised that statement less than 30 minutes later, removing the reference to other automakers. A few hours after that, it issued another revision that omitted Apple:

“We’ve been receiving requests for potential cooperation from various companies regarding development of autonomous EVs,” the latest version said. “No decisions have been made as discussions are in early stage.”

https://driving.ca/hyundai/auto-news...s-upcoming-car

Toys4RJill

Would be a interesting partnership....

EZZ

Will probable be expensive given how much of a premium they usually charge. I'm skeptical whether this comes to fruition though.

LeX2K

Expect to see more and more alliances as auto makers scramble to compete with Tesla and to a lesser extent VW.

spwolf

EVs can make it possible for other players to enter the market, with autonomous tech and their own OS/Multimedia, i see no reason Apple couldnt have contractual production like they do for laptops.

EZZ

Sure but Tesla's secret sauce has been their drivetrain and battery management tech and that is very hard to replicate. Apple always prides themselves on providing the best product and in this case, I'm skeptical they can. Not just a an Apple car but a better car than most in the market.

Toys4RJill

Actually does not make the best products. A blanket statement like that is wrong. Apple has better “brand” power than most competing brands. There are many superior products out there that are not Apple.

spwolf

not so sure it is that hard, especially since Tesla is diversifying suppliers themselves. Plus Hyundai can build better vehicle than Tesla and Apple can do some premium magic and awesome OS.
Best automakers make quite nice profit margin, i can see how lucrative this is for Apple.

EZZ

A little subjective but if you look at their phones, they have the highest quality chipset (best on the planet), highest tier display, camera, and materials. They also have a premium ecosystem and unparalleled support. Generally, it's acknowledged in the industry, they are the best (and I have been in that industry for over 15 years). Their computers are similar. Sure you can argue specs aren't the best but overall experience and customer loyalty is unparalleled. Branding doesn't work if you don't have a superior product.

When Apple doesn't have a superior product, they typically exit the business or never get in (like their rumored TV and now defunct router).

EZZ

We will see. Can't count out Apple due to their massive cash position and resources but I'd still be surprised if they got into the business

Toys4RJill

You said the best products (blanket statement). I disagree. However. many of their products are very very good. I guess it up to debate who makes a better top cellular phone....Samsung or Apple....IMO, their iPhone is outstanding ...I have a MacBook and a PC Laptop, the laptop is a better product costing about 1/2 the price...most of their services are quite crappy IMO. So are most of their accessories such as their earphones or EarPods etc.

Very high overall experience and very high loyalty.

EZZ

Only sure measure of superiority is share and Apple share in the premium tier annihilates Samsung by far. Apple even costs more on average. iPad is the same in terms of share and having a superior product. I can agree that the Mac isnt far above the comparable PCs.

I get a new Apple phone and premium tier Samsung phone every year and use both regularly. I think the Apple is far better.

Toys4RJill

Totally fair opinion. I don’t agree with all of it....your comments do not extend to all of Apple products.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

why do you have both?

EZZ

One is a personal phone which I pay and one is supplied by my Company for business use. I don't like to use my business phone for personal use at all (big brother is always watching)

Also, the personal phone is on a plan with a yearly upgrade cycle and the business phone i can get every year due to the industry i am in. To be honest, i barely notice improvements in phone year to year now as its just small incremental improvements from now on.