Hyundai Motor Co.’s shares soared more than 20% in the Seoul trading session on Friday after the South Korean automaker confirmed it is in talks with Apple Inc. to develop a self-driving electric car.
“Apple and Hyundai are in discussion, but as it is at an early stage, nothing has been decided,” said Hyundai in a statement.
That was enough to light up Hyundai’s 005380,
greatest gain from intraday trading since at least 1988.
Korean news site Hankyung first reported the news from Apple, saying that Hyundai would manufacture the car designed by Apple, as well as develop batteries for it.
Separately, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday that it will take Apple AAPL,
at least five years to develop an autonomous car. Bloomberg also reported that a number of former Tesla Inc. TSLA,
executives were added to the project.
For years, there were rumors that Apple was working on an autonomous car, and has been back and forth between developing its own car and just developing the technology for one. Last month, Reuters reported that Apple was again looking to develop a passenger car with a target date of 2024.
Apple shares jumped more than 3% on Thursday and rose 69% last year, compared to a 7% gain from the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA,
of which it is a component, in the last 12 months.