“Apple has been talking with McLaren, the automaker known for its Formula One racecars, about an investment in the company, according to two people briefed on the talks who asked to remain anonymous because the discussions were confidential,” Daisuke Wakabayashi and Brian X. Chen report for The New York Times.
“Apple is also in talks with Lit Motors, a San Francisco start-up that has developed an electric self-balancing motorcycle, about a potential acquisition, according to three people who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the conversations were private,” Wakabayashi and Chen report. “Apple has already hired several former Lit Motors engineers.”
“Inside Apple, employees recently described the company’s efforts to build a car as a project lacking vision and in complete disarray. The recent layoffs, followed by Apple’s pursuit of talent and expertise from outside companies, are part of the company’s effort to “reboot” the project, said people familiar with the layoffs,” Wakabayashi and Chen report. “Wayne Bruce, a spokesman for McLaren, said in an emailed statement that the company was ‘not in discussion with Apple in respect of any potential investment.'”
MacDailyNews Take: And then he hopped in his Batmobile and… Oh, wait, that’s Bruce Wayne.
“An acquisition of Lit Motors could also help Apple rethink its strategy with building an electric car. For years, Lit Motors has worked on the C-1, an electric motorcycle that relies on two large gyroscopes, which prevent it from tipping over,” Wakabayashi and Chen report. “The two-wheeler, which can hold only one passenger, was designed to have the efficiency of a bicycle and motorcycle but the safety of a car.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Bob Mansfield is “kicking ass and taking names,” a little birdy tells us.
Lit Motors’ website is: http://litmotors.comSEE ALSO:
Apple in talks to acquire British supercar maker McLaren – September 21, 2016
man, oh man, that thing is maximum cool…and cheaper than any Harley.
But an electric smart car costs $25K after taxes (and BEFORE $10K or more subsidies), and can hold 2 people + groceries.
So it seems to me that this needs to drop in price by about 1/2.
a Macintosh II cost $15k.
Exactly, my first Mac in 1988/9 was over twice what I paid for my most recent in 2013 and was used for years by PC weenies to explain to we ‘aliens’ why the Mac was on its last legs and could not compete so slightly odd such arguments should be raised on this forum.
The problem is that a society stops progressing technologically when basic arguments of added cost to change imbedded technology takes precedent over the potential superiority of those new solutions. The cost mindset works short term but longer term will destroy your ability to compete with those competitors with a more innovative attitude who invest for the future despite initial added cost. Indeed too often as profits inevitably decline it makes it for those status quo businesses eventually impossible to catch up. It was precisely this attitude that destroyed the British Car/Motorbike industry and indeed threatened the same with the American for so long. Once the tipping point is reached the change can be scarily quick if you have backed the wrong (iron) horse.
Instead of buying a Macintosh II at $15k, I bought an Amiga 1000…a wonderful computer in its era until Commodore got a hold of it.
Wow! The plot thickens. I’ll bet there are a lot of folks who would give their eye teeth to find out where Apple is headed.
Been watching Lit from the cheap seats since back in the day. It is an interesting concept.
PS, if Apple could spare Bob Mansfield for a couple: please give us a new Mac Pro that is not a styling exercise.
It’s a shame that Lit basically lost the last two years of development when the founder, Daniel Kim, got pretty seriously injured racing his Ducati at the track.
I always thought that Apple would be a good fit for Lit. I’m actually surprised that Tesla didn’t pick them up, as the concept would have been a good line extension for Tesla without having to spend a whole lot of money developing another vehicle.
MDN, your mobile site is utter sh*t. If you can’t get a site to work properly on an iPhone, you’ve no business reporting on Apple news.
Use the MacDailyNews app, moron.
Overpriced for its functionality. Have a look at the 2 Pax Elio for $7,300. The price difference would pay for 320,000 miles of travel at the Elio’s mpg at $3 per gallon.
The Wagen nano is going to be first to market?
More cool than what they are accomplishing on their own! Maybe they should buy/invest-in/hire Terrafugia. Then we might get the “TF-X™” when we get the car. That would be really-really cool. And Apple could have entries from the low-end to the high-end of the market. …waiting to see.
Apple eyes purchase of McLaren makes sense. This news is click bait only.
McLaren’s statement “the company was ‘not in discussion with Apple in respect of any potential investment'”
That was a very specific denial. We can certainly assume that Apple Inc is not about to invest in McLaren, but other scenarios could be possible without contradicting that statement.
The real point is that any discussions with McLaren, Lit Motors or anybody else are going tho be complex and confidential, therefore it would be ridiculous to expect a detailed running commentary about those negotiations. What you’re left with in the interim is rumours based upon scraps of information, with no way of scrutinising those scraps of information.
‘Lit Motors’, I’m sorry, but it sounds like a car company Samsung would be eyeballing. I can see their marketing promo now… “With Every Purchase, A Free Samsung Galaxy Note 7 To Light Up You Lit!”
Love Lit Motors’ C-1