Kia Motors shares surged as much as 14.5% after a local media report that Apple will invest 4 trillion won ($3.6 billion) as part of a collaboration with the South Korean carmaker on making electric vehicles.
Shinhye Kang and Kyunghee Park for Bloomberg News:
The iPhone maker plans to set up production with Kia and build Apple cars at the automaker’s facility in Georgia, U.S., Dong-A Ilbo reported, without citing anyone. The companies may sign a deal on Feb. 17 and aim to introduce Apple cars in 2024, according to the newspaper, which said they have an initial target to produce 100,000 autos a year.
The technology giant’s car-development work is still at an early stage, and the company will take at least half a decade to launch an autonomous EV, people with knowledge of the efforts have told Bloomberg News.
Last month, Hyundai Motor Co., an affiliate of Kia, backed away from a statement that said it was in talks with Apple, revising it to say only it had been contacted by potential partners for the development of autonomous EVs. The news pushed stock in Hyundai up almost 20% on the day. Kia shares are now at their highest since 1997.
MacDailyNews Take: Things are moving right along on the Project Titan front. Just yesterday, it was reported that Apple has hired long-standing head of chassis development at Porsche, Dr. Manfred Harrer, for the construction of their own vehicle.