For Apple fans who look forward to the long rumors Apple car to come true, I have good news and bad news. The good news: the news is that Apple is talking to Hyundai and Kia about collaborating on an electric vehicle. The bad news: these negotiations have apparently stopped.
People familiar with the matter said that Apple recently interrupted its discussions with the two Korean automakers for a Friday. Bloomberg report. The sources, who spoke to the agency on condition of anonymity, added that Apple has also been looking to other automakers for similar plans.
It is unclear whether discussions with Kia and Hyundai will resume or when they will. Apple declined Bloomberg’s request for comment. Gizmodo has contacted Apple, Kia and Hyundai and will update this blog if they respond.
Rumors about Apple working on a autonomous electric vehicle, which is called Project Titan, has been circulating since 2014. But the rumor has increased in recent weeks after some drama between Hyundai, which owns Kia’s controlling stake, and Apple.
You see, Hyundai executives apparently got a little bit also excited after Apple approached them to work together on an electric car and rechargeable batteries, and spilled the beans about the proposal for the local media – a sacrilegious offense for a company as notoriously quiet as Apple. Shortly after Hyundai claimed it was reviewing Apple’s proposal, the company furiously backed off and issued a new statement saying that several global automakers, including Hyundai, were in initial negotiations with Apple over a potential partnership. But then Hyundai apparently had doubts and stepped back even more to be more secure, eliminating all mention of Apple in an updated statement.
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Some details about the possible partnership have emerged, although it goes without saying that they should be considered with caution. In January, Reuters, citing a report by the local media Korea IT News, said Hyundai and Apple planned to sign an agreement on the project in March. The report stated that the project would aim to produce 100,000 cars by 2024, making the vehicles at a Kia Motors plant in Georgia or at a new plant in the United States. In the future, the plant would be able to produce 400,000 cars at full annual capacity. A “beta version” of the Apple car was due to be released next year, according to the report.
It does not appear that the parties involved were very enthusiastic about the disclosure of these details, as an update deleted most of them from the report, according to Reuters. It is not clear how Apple pausing these discussions would affect these potential deadlines.
We previously theorized that Hyundai may have burned bridges with Apple by exposing its mouth on the proposal too soon, and this recent turn of events certainly seems to support that. Apple may or may not put these conversations aside for now to focus on looking for another partner, but if it is, we definitely have an idea of why.
[Bloomberg]