“German carmakers Daimler and BMW have ended talks with Apple over a cooperation deal on an electric car,” Handelsblatt reports citing “industry sources.”
“The U.S. tech firm is looking for a partner that could lend it expertise in manufacturing an electric ‘iCar.’ The favorite is believed to be Canadian-Austrian firm Magna,” Handelsblatt reports. “Apple’s plan has been to develop a highly-networked electric car that would also be at least partially self-driving.”
“Sources said the talks with both German carmakers collapsed over the key questions of who would lead the project and, above all, which company would have ownership of the data,” Handelsblatt reports. “Apple is primarily looking for German technology and specialists for the project. The search is being conducted out of an office in Berlin.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple isn’t going to be ceding control of users’ data. If Apple has to take BMW and Daimler’s best and brightest to build a German-engineered Apfel Car, so be it.
BMWblog says “…Apple execs visited Austria to meet with Magna to discuss the car project. Magna was one of the companies present at a global car body conference attended by Sixty Eight Research, a firm widely believe to be a front for the Apple Car division.”
I really want to see what an Apple Car is like. But I don’t know. This is a very complicated product to put together and it’s an industry that actually has good products. Apple is walking into a market that doesn’t need fixing…
I disagree with this statement. When we are talking about cars or any vehicle, we are primarily talking about transport. And until we optimises energy consumption, comfort, safety ……..etc. Etc. Fuel, economy …..and zillion other things etc etc. Pollution, global warming…etc, etc……this industry needs fixing the most right now.
So glad I whitelisted MDN. I was missing all the ads for ‘Poise” pads.
I think it knows you. I get mostly computer stuff and cars and motorcycles and date hot women in your area.
That’s because all the hot women in your area want to date YOU! 😉
It keeps showing me smut for advertisements. :/
Turn off “tap to click” if you have a trackpad.
Car companies ain’t stupid.
Hi! We’re from APPLE, wanna help us compete with you?
I disagree. Apple is hiring German talent that was tired of working for old style companies that did not want to move forward.
So, Apple is getting the forward thinkers and the other ones are getting people that cheat on emission testing cause …. no one will notice….. right??? LOL
Car companies are stupid. Just look at their track record. If they were smart, they would be thinking ahead and working with Apple instead of saying….. “Apple is not just going to come in here and make cell phones…. er cars…. that takes years…. ” Sound familiar??? LOL
A agree with your disagreement. Slowly, the stodginess and carelessness of average car companies will end. I think it has a lot to do with the incentive to sell mass quantities of petrol / gasoline. That hegemony over our lives is waning.
Meanwhile, there are the futurists, as usual, seeing what’s next.
Lol 😒
Apple should count their blessings. Tesla partnered with Lotus on the original Roadster and now openly says it was foolish to not start with a clean sheet of paper and design from the ground up. The fossil auto industry carries too much baggage and too much arrogance. An Apple car really needs to be organically grown.
If you choose to forge ahead without any experience from the past, go ahead. There is a reason that all these new startup companies begin by hiring people from existing experienced companies.
As for the Lotus story: much more detail there than what has been made public.
Apple partnered with the leading mobile phone maker of the early ’00s and brought forth the Razr. The went it alone and the world now has the iPhone.
MB and BMW both make outstanding cars. The just don’t make Apple cars and their corporate egos will never let them. They’re too enamored of who they have been to become what they could be.
They certainly shouldn’t ask Volkswagen and Mitsubishi; lying cheating companies both. I wonder how many others are lying concerning emissions, mph or whatever.
Lying and cheating apparently are accepted business practices in every industry. Even smartphones! I seem to recall Samsung (& others) rigging their units to game benchmark test suites.
I would hardly call Lotus a fossil example of the motor industry considering it is responsible for many of the innovations in both racing and production cars including the the advanced glued aluminium chassis design borrowed by Tesla. Any problem there was simply down to it not being originally engineered for battery power in the way that those that followed are. Fact is Lotus has forgotten more about car design and innovative engineering than Tesla currently knows, just not in the same area of expertise.
of course, they could not find the butts with both hands in Formula One. Waaay back in the 60’s yes, but a total disaster in the 2000’s.
And no road cars of any significance for 40 years,
Other than that……
Zee only apple vee respect, ist strüdel!
I wouldn’t deal with the Germans on a bet.
I have been looking for a decent PHEV-SUV and initially considered the BMW X5 PHEV but guess what BMW’s are not CarPlay compliant and the Audi Q7 Diesel PHEV is caught up in the VW diesel gate problem
Guess that means Volvo XC 90 PHEV
Maybe Apple will have to buy BMW to get it to modern up
I saw a nice X-5 M today. What’s a PHEV?
Have you considered the BMW i8? It’s a hybrid, with an all-electric motor situated on the front axle and a twin turbo 3-cylinder engine driving the rear axle.
It looks stunning — and the specs ain’t bad, either:
–> 0 to 60 mph in 4.2 seconds
–> 357 horsepower, 420 lb-ft of torque
–> up to 330 miles of range at 76 mpg(e)
And the cost? Well, you know what they say: If you have to ask…
@ BlueMax
Apple never ever will be able to buy BMW,
it’s not a matter of money.
Check out who owns almost 47% of BMW.
I wish the analysts could keep their information straight. Earlier this week, Apple was neck deep working with BMW. Darn, that never happened. So much BS.