Apple already has other automakers in mind as it was reported a couple of weeks ago that they are investing $3.6 billion in KIA Motors to push their car production dream.
The growing need for Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) to see that its autonomous car project goal materialize influenced their decision to attempt to tie the knot with the Japanese carmaker, Nissan Motor Co Ltd (TYO: 7201). However, the agreement has been said to be unsuccessful with the two heavyweight companies not in contact anymore over branding issues.
According to reports, it was proposed that Nissan becomes just a hardware supplier for manufacturing Apple-branded cars. The discussion collapsed at this level as it did not advance to the senior management level as claimed by reports.
“We are not in talks with Apple. However, Nissan is always open to exploring collaborations and partnerships to accelerate industry transformation, ” said Nissan’s Spokeswoman.
Ashwani Gupta, the COO of Nissan, disclosed that they have their customer satisfaction which comes from the way they make cars. In this context, they will not for any reason change their method.
“The way we design, the way we develop, and the way we manufacture are going to be as an automotive manufacturer, like Nissan, ” said Gupta.
The spokeswoman for Nissan refused to give further comments and the apple representatives were not available for an immediate statement. This announcement affected the shares of Nissan as its value fell by 3.7% on early Monday. Apple has been very effective with its autonomous car technology in recent months as they seek to come out with its passenger cars that have its battery technology as of 2024.
This also guided their move to have a partnership agreement with Hyundai Motor Co (KRX: 005380) to produce autonomous cars. Unfortunately, this deal collapsed as well over a similar reason as the carmaker company failed to be recognized as a mere contract manufacturer in the deal.
The industry does not commonly see a major contract manufacturer as a Taiwanese company, Foxconn Technology Co Ltd (TPE: 2354), which serves the consumer electronic company. Unlike some of these carmakers that refuse to put themselves in the contract manufacturing position, Geely Automobile Holdings Limit (HKG: 0175), has agreed on a partnership deal with Baidu Inc (NASDAQ: BIDU) and Foxconn as the go-to contract manufacturer in China.
Apple already has other automakers in mind as it was reported a couple of weeks ago that they are investing $3.6 billion in KIA Motors Corporation (KRX: 000270) to push their car production dream.
History of Apple Car Making Before the Discussions with Nissan
It goes as far as 2014 when it was reported that Apple was working on developing electric cars with about 1000 workers in a project called “Project Titan”. This was being done in a secret location said to be closer to its Cupertino headquarters. After a couple of years, there was an internal problem in addition to leadership issues affecting the development of the project.
In 2016, the company concentrated on developing consumer-facing cars after overcoming the problems. After coming such a long way, Apple has been tipped to come out with a vehicle by 2024. However, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo holds a strong belief that a car will not be released until 2025 to 2027.
Excellent John K. Kumi is a cryptocurrency and fintech enthusiast, operations manager of a fintech platform, writer, researcher, and a huge fan of creative writing. With an Economics background, he finds much interest in the invisible factors that causes price change in anything measured with valuation. He has been in the crypto/blockchain space in the last five (5) years. He mostly watches football highlights and movies in his free time.
