Hyundai says in early discussions with Apple after electric vehicle tie-up report
South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Co said on Friday it was in early talks with Apple after local media announced the firms were examining an electric car and battery tie-up, sending Hyundai shares rising 25%.
The report comes weeks after Reuters revealed that Apple was pushing ahead with self-driving car technology and was planning to create a traveler vehicle that could incorporate its own advancement battery technology as early as 2024.
Prior on Friday, Korea Economic Daily TV said the iPhone creator and Hyundai were in conversations to create self-driving electric vehicles by 2027 and create batteries at U.S. factories worked by either Hyundai or its affiliate Kia Motors Corp. The broadcaster didn’t refer to sources.
“Apple and Hyundai are in discussion, but as it is early stage, nothing has been decided,” Hyundai said in a statement. It didn’t state what the discussions were about and precluded a reference in a prior statement to Apple being in conversations with other global automakers as well as Hyundai.
In a regulatory filing issued gave later, the automaker said it was “getting requests for cooperation on joint development of autonomous electric vehicles from various companies”, without distinguishing any of them.
Apple declined to comment. The iPhone producer is known to keep product plans under tight wraps.
An Apple-branded car could be a major challenge to electric vehicle (EV) market leader Tesla Inc. It stays unclear who might collect such a car, however experts have said they anticipate that the organization should depend on a manufacturing partner.
“We continue to strongly believe Apple ultimately announces an EV strategic partnership in 2021 that lays the groundwork to enter the burgeoning EV space,” Wedbush analysts said in a note.
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