Kia is looking for a production partner to build Apple electric vehicles in Georgia, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Apple is in talks with Hyundai, Kia’s parent company, about a vehicle partnership. Last week, Hyundai executives were “dying” with the deal.
Apple and Hyundai were close to an agreement this week, CNBC reported on Wednesday. But Bloomberg reported on Friday that Apple and Hyundai had “paused” their discussions. It was unclear when they would resume, the report said.
Apple did not return a request for comment on Saturday.
If Kia finds a local partner to build an Apple vehicle in Georgia, it is unclear how involved Hyundai would be in making the vehicles.
“We are not a company that makes cars for others. It is not like working with Apple would always produce great results,” an anonymous Hyundai executive told Reuters last week.
Read more: The ‘Apple Car’ would destroy Apple, and Tesla’s incredibly volatile story shows why
Apple has not publicly recognized that it is in talks with automakers, but details have leaked to the press. Hyundai and Apple have been talking about a deal since at least 2018, according to Reuters. And the company is in negotiations with other manufacturers for smaller parts, the newspaper reported.
‘Project Titan,’ as the car is known internally, has been making news for years. The company hired thousands to work on the project, before reducing the project and firing some of them in 2016. In recent years, Apple has stolen employees from the rival manufacturer of Tesla electric cars.
The company may be working on an electric van. The vehicle design laid off or relocated some 200 workers in 2019. The vehicle design has led to an increasing list of patents, which suggest some potential features.
South Korean media reported on January 10 that Hyundai and Apple planned to sign an agreement by March 2021. They planned to make a “beta” version of an Apple electric vehicle in 2022 and then start production at scale in 2024, according to the report.